Louise's wrath
by kawakasumi
Summary: The de La Valliere line was famous for their rule of steel. But how long can Louise cope from her own shortcomings and the jeers from her fellow mages? Her familiar claimed she was a prophet of a brotherhood, adding to her long list of predicaments. But the promises from her bizarre familiar were so enticing. Surely it won't hurt to play along with her familiar, right? (Rated M)
1. Chapter 1 : Rise up

I do not own the Command and Conquer Universe and Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima.

I also do not receive any form of compensation for writing this story, it is purely for my own and the reader's entertainment.

* * *

Chapter 1 : Rise up!

* * *

 ** _(Tristain Academy of Magic)_**

* * *

"I'll show them.." She whispered lightly into her pillow. Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière was sprawled on her bed 'elegantly'. Her legs dangled in the air and her face buried in her feather pillow. She had been recounting the day's events in her mind for the past half an hour, replaying it and adding scenes of her own to the mix.

Today was the first day of class with the new Professor Chevreuse. A triangle earth class mage, the professor had said with a slight disappointment in her voice.

Louise bit her lip. Some people didn't know when to be grateful. The strawberry-blonde bitterly thought of every single time she had tried to cast a spell only for it to blow up infront of her face or blow the entire immediate area entirely. Yet Professor Chavreuse was troubled by the fact that she wasn't a full blown square-class mage.

She couldn't blame the professor anyhow, it was normal for mages to seek more power. If only her's would work normally then she too would probably be lamenting about being an under-classed mage.

After a long-winded introduction of how earth magic was basically 'the essence of life and the most important of all magic', Louise had stopped listening after a minute or two as she engrossed herself in a book she had borrowed from the library, she was happily minding her own business too. A book detailing the different styles of pentagrams and incantations used in a summon familiar spell.

At that moment was then the professor had called her name, much to the dismay of the whole class, she remembered the multitudes of sighs and moans as the professor ignored every one of their pleas. Yet again, she couldn't blame the professor for suggesting her to go first. It was her first day here, she couldn't have known.. How Louise the third daughter of the Valliere was a failure of a mage..A zero.

She remembered telling herself she could do the transmutation spell, a simple spell to say the least. Easier than magically lighting a candle, atleast there was no possible destructive force involved like fire right? Wrong. Long story short, the spell ended the same way hundreds of spells before it, in a blast of smoke and soot. Effectively destroying the front part of the classroom, leaving the professor unconscious and herself with tattered clothes.

Then she was reminded of the trip back from class, with that hound Kirche, Tabitha and Montromency trailing behind her like vultures waiting for her to roll over and die. Maybe not Montromency and certainly not Tabitha. But Kirche, that was for sure. The Zerbst had been on her like fire to oil as soon as the Germanian had learned of her heritage. Louise, never one to back down a fight and also wielding the rule of steel instilled in her like a sword-and sometimes a crutch-fought back the jeers and name calling with equal amount of acidity.

Then she remembered shouting that particular sentence with confidence and finality "I'll summon the greatest familiar you'll ever see!"

She groaned and rolled over onto her back, an arm draped over her face.

"I can do it…" She whispered "I can do the summon familiar spell" She was unnecessarily reminded of the times she had tried casting the summon servant spell which was slightly similar to a familiar, but instead of a servant animal she received a flying patch of dirt and smoke as a reward.

She grimaced at what followed the bitter memory, the insults and name calls. Her degrading moniker being repeated over and over like a mantra, or like how commoners welcomed a foreign nobility to their meager town. But instead of feeling celebrated she felt she had hit rock bottom. Willing the ground to blow up again and cover her in a miserable ball.

However, she didn't give in to the urge no matter how strong it was. Stronger still was the rule of steel beaten into her by her mother, none other than the great Karin Heavy Wind herself. Her mother was the reason she was still up on her two feet, still kicking and breathing. Yet, she was also the reason why Louise was fighting this much, too much. The strawberry-blonde realized she had never turned away from a challenge, she embraced it willingly despite the odds.

In spite of the lengths she did to earn her mother's recognition, she was never good enough. It didn't matter what she did unless it was magic. Be it sword fighting or painting, the former earned her a mock battle with the heavy wind herself, ending with a broken sword and a disheartened wielder. The latter, ended with a shredded painting canvas.

Needless to say her night after those two events were filled with muffled sobs, fearing her mother would listen and barrel down the halls, smashing her door and drill Louise regarding the weakness of such an act.

Louise wiped her eyes with her sleeve, sniffling slightly as she did. Tomorrow would be a day to remember, a red letter day. Because it all depended on the outcome of her spell, whether it would bear fruit or another explosion. If it did bear fruit and she somehow summoned a familiar, by now she didn't pay mind the accidental promise she had yelled at the bloody Zerbst as long as she got a familiar then it bought her the ticket to extend her stay at the academy and prove to the others that she was a mage!

If not, then she would be expelled the very next day. A letter would be sent out to her mother, by next week a carriage bearing the Valliere family insignia would arrive. A furious Karin heavy wind was not a mother one would want. She would gladly have Eleonore come and get her instead of her mother. Then no one would have to see her on the receiving end of whatever her mother had instore for her. That was indeed saying something if she willingly wanted Eleonore to be here.

Curling her body into a protective ball, she begun to slowly lose consciousness as sleep begun to engulf her mentally fatigued mind.

* * *

 ** _(The next day)_**

* * *

"Miss Valliere is the only one left, professor"

 _Brimir damn that Zerbst!_

Louise shot the Germanian a glare, she was doing so well at the back. No one took notice of her presence. Everyone was too busy looking forward to summoning their own familiars so much that they forgot the one who was least likely to get one. But then the harlot Zerbst started flapping her lips and her plans of flying through today without an incident was slipping away.

Truthfully she wanted to summon a familiar by herself, maybe at night where no one was watching. Louise hid the envy that welled inside her when Tabitha, the quietest mage in class managed to summon an honest to Brimir wind dragon. The other summons weren't any less amazing however, even the lecher Kirche managed to summon a fire salamander. The blonde couple: Guiche and Montromency held the _honor_ of having the most unimpressive familiars. Having summoned a _mole_ and a _frog_ respectively, but Louise knew better than to voice her thoughts, not until she summoned her familiar. _If_ she managed to summon anything at all for that matter.

Sighing, she walked over to the clearing, ignoring the not-so-veiled insults as she did so. Her classmates cleared the immediate area, walking a fair distance away from her but just enough to maintain sight of her. Louise felt a vein pulse on her forehead.

"Louise?! She'll blow us up!"

"Hey it's the zero!"

"Don't mess up my favorite cape now"

' _I'll show them'_ Louise tightened the grip on her wand.

Louise schooled her features, her eyes narrowed slightly as she began chanting the sacred incantations.

* * *

 ** _(A few miles off of Melbourne, Australia_**

 ** _17_ _th_ _August 2048)_**

* * *

MCV unit-424 was a minor tactical A.I., minor tasks were usually assigned to it whenever the field human commander or LEGION was away. Minor tasks ranging from base defense, resource gathering, staff count and to put it simply; Tasks that the human commanders or the advanced A.I. would deem 'inadequate' for their skills.

Not that 424 was complaining, it couldn't complain even if it wanted to. Here it was trudging through the desolate lands of what used to be part of Australia, a small town just outside of Melbourne, without a sound of complaint. It also noted that it wasn't eliciting any signs of jubilancy either.

Its bulky dark metal body lined with red pulsing lights was the only thing that appeared to be _alive_ in the town. It's four legs carried the MCV slowly and carefully through the street. The field commander had been a stingy human and dare Unit-424 say it? A coward. The human refused to assign 424 with much needed escort.

Leaving it to fend for itself while navigating through the treacherous land riddled with tiberium, Unit-424 wasn't concerned with the GDI roaming the area where it was supposed to set up a resource base, no, it was the mutants. The mutants were abominations, a faction of mercenaries with no permanent ties. What mattered was who had more credit.

They were simply fickle creatures, deformed in appearance but strength wise? They would run down a normal human in a straight fight. Sometimes their mutations would heighten their resistance to physical abuse and most of the time they would be immune to tiberium! Without Kane's blessing! Such heresy.

That was to say nothing of the visceroid lurking in the tiberium fields, if mutants were a sideways step from normal humans, then the visceroid was a gigantic leap sideways for every living organic creature on the planet. Basically a lump of flesh mutated into a living -breathing was questionable-tiberium based life form hell bent on eating its way through anything man made.

If Unit-424 was an organic it would've shuddered at the thought, fortunately, Kane did not program it to feel human emotions.

" _ **I beseech you my faithful servant, who lives somewhere in the universe!"**_

Unit-424 stopped abruptly mid-stride. One of its legs still hovered in the air as if the sudden sound had frozen the A.I. into place.

" **Identify yourself"** Boomed the voice of Unit-424 through its external speakers, its voice metallic and deep, bounced off the empty walls of the desolate town.

But no answer came.

Unit 424 unconvinced and entirely determined that it's audio receptors were in peak condition started it's stealth detection protocols. But every instrument that was built to nullify stealth registered nothing on their its sensors.

Billions of programs and codes ran simultaneously, each trying to discern the source of the auditory anomaly. Though pathetically underpowered compared to LEGION or its predecessor CABAL. Unit-424 was still an A.I., its computing speed was beyond human capabilities. Even with all the industrial might of the GDI, they were hard pressed to stave off Unit-424's cyberwarfare. It ripped through firewalls in mere seconds and decrypted high level encryption in mere hours, minutes if it dedicated all of his resources to one task.

Part of the reason why it was basically _frustrating_ when none of it's scanners were receiving any feedback. Ghosts it seemed, haunted this town and the machine was hearing things like a scarred war veteran.

" _ **Oh my unshakable, resolute and unwavering follower!"**_

There it was again. Unit-424 was now wholly convinced it was not a malfunction on its part. There was definitely a voice speaking to it. The voice was firm and strong, but had an underlying tone of desperation laced with anger. It reminded it of Kane, the various times he communed with LEGION like a father would to a son.

Unit-424 had reviewed those recordings a few times in awe of such a great human, capable of shaping the disorganized humans into a true fighting force and uniting both organic and cybernetic organism under one banner. The brotherhood of Nod.

Indeed, the voice was music to it's audio receptors, even though it was far too feminine to be Kane.

" _ **Here I desire and plead from my heart!"**_

The voice continued. Unit-424 had stopped moving entirely, settling into a neutral stance. Effectively enraptured by the sound of the voice.

" _ **Follow under my guidance, through power shall we achieve peace!"**_

At that same moment, a green disc larger than it's own body appeared a few feet from it. The surface rippled with unknown energy. A human would've been reluctant to enter, a cybernetic organism would've run tests towards this spatial anomaly. Unit-424 would've done the same, if it hadn't heard the words spoken by the mysterious voice.

Those words were unmistakable, sure it wasn't the same, word by word, but it still held the same message.

 _Peace through power_

Without a second thought, the Nod MCV stepped into the portal, abandoning its previous mission with a new one in mind.

* * *

Author notes : Good evening comrades! Tonight marks the beginning of another Familiar of zero crossover. Hopefully it would pique the interest of those who had read the fic 'Foundation must be true' by Tankred. It had inspired me to write my own take on CnC and Familiar of Zero.

I also apologize if I botched up abit regarding the Nod military presence in Australia, I have not read much of the CnC lore. I decided to base it on my own playthrough in CnC Kane's wrath global conquest where I had one surviving MCV in a failed strike force attack.

And this is my first _published_ fanfic, I dont mind criticism as long as its constructive.

cover image anyone? and beta reader?


	2. Chapter 2 : This is the Brotherhood

I do not own the C&C franchise and the Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima

What I write is merely of my own imagination and I in no way make money out of this.

* * *

Chapter 2 : This is the Brotherhood

Louise de la Valliere stared blankly at the blackened earth beneath her, the result of her recent spell. The spell that was supposed to change her life, pull her back on her feet. Not drag her deeper into the pits of despair.

This was it.

This was the end of the road for her, she was a failure as a mage. She was unworthy of the Vallierre name. It might be better for her to renounce her Valliere heritage right now and then than to be formally disowned by her family. Atleast it saved her mother the trouble.

"Nice going Zero!" Yelled one of her class mates, she didn't bother turning her head to glare anymore.

Her head hung low in defeat, she still had her wand in her hand and somehow she wasn't blown away by the blast which was a surprise because it felt stronger than the ones before. Even her classmates many of whom had already anticipated her failure and took necessary precautions were forced to take cover.

Nothing.

Nothing had come, only the soot covered earth lay infront of her. The grass having been completely burnt and patches of grass flung away by the force of the explosion. Aside from that, there was nothing to indicate she had summon anything.

Not even a a measly house familiar like a cat or a dog. Even a commoner would've been fine!

' _Maybe it was a worm'_ whispered a voice from the back of her mind _'And it died in the blast!'_ The voice chortled.

Across the field, the second year mages of Tristain academy were busy patting off the dust from their clothes, some were glaring daggers at the Valliere and some had entirely abandoned the need to conceal their distaste.

"Damn it zero! How many times this month!" A yell came from the back.

"Good thing this'll be the last! She'd get expelled after this"

Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst had remarkably kept her mouth shut the entire ordeal, before the summoning, she had occasionally thrown a few glances at Louise when the strawberry-blonde had her eyes on the crowd. Only for Louise's blank gaze to turn into that notorious scowl Kirche had enjoyed so much eliciting from Louise.

But the jabs at the walking powder keg called Louise were getting worse by the day. Evident by the barbs still being thrown from all around her. The red head shook her head slowly. Was this how Tristanian nobles treat their equals? Her treatment of the Valliere was justified, after all. The feud between the Zerbst and Valliere stretched for generations and it was natural that she continued what her forefathers had started.

' _Was it?'_ She questioned herself for a brief second. Was it worth seeing Louise knee-deep in self-pity?

Kirche spared a glance at her closest friend, Tabitha who was unmoved from reading her book. The newly acquired wind dragon was sitting faithfully beside the diminutive girl. Tabitha was one of the only mages in the academy that didn't bother with social cliques and treated everyone the same. By same she meant one worded replies and her eyes flickering upwards from her book briefly to indicate that she was still in a conversation.

Still, Tabitha had never shown hostility towards anyone, especially Louise who everyone had banded together against when she was about to cast a spell. One of the reasons why Kirche always kept Tabitha close, to remind her whenever she went too far.

"Settle down everyone! Act like the nobles you are!" Professor Colbert made his presence known to the mages, effectively silencing the rowdy and disheveled nobles.

Kirche nodded absently. The teachers still cared for Louise at least even as far as being supportive of the Valliere.

"Not done" Kirche raised an eyebrow as she felt something poke her side. She turned to see Tabitha poking her lightly with her oversized staff. Kirche gave her an earnest smile. But what did she meant by not done?

As if reading the Germanian's thoughts, Tabitha pointed her staff towards the clearing.

"Oh?" Kirche muttered under her breath.

She could barely see it, but it was there. The space infront of Louise was slowly distorting, forming a transparent whirlpool. It seemed Tabitha wasn't the only one that noticed it however, as the rest of the nobles caught on. Murmurs began to circulate around the crowd.

The distortion grew larger in size, eventually it was clearly visible that something was happening.

To the person closer to the curious event which was Louise, she could actually feel the energy radiating from the distortion. Humid wind began to gently blow through the surrounding area. Picking up in speed.

A flicker of hope started in her heart, she could barely contain the growing excitement as she stared at the growing whirlpool of energy. Soon after, her cape fluttered behind her. The wind was becoming more violent. It reminded her of the stories of when her mother would work together with fire mages, funneling their flame with her wind magic. She supposed it would feel something like what she was currently experiencing though to a lesser extent.

Something was happening! Finally! She buried her mouth into the crook of her elbow, worried she might catch a stray bug.

Professor Colbert was impressed by the level of magic Louise was generating, it certainly would rival her mother if she was properly trained. Though he found it peculiar as to why her summon familiar ritual had taken so long to take effect.

The bald professor just assumed it was due to the peculiar incantations Louise had used. Frankly, it scared him how much it reminded him of a soldier looking forward to the glory of a battle or a preacher.

He had quickly chanted various wind resisting incantations as the gale generated by the anomaly begun to increase. Luckily, he was far too familiar around wind magic.

Colbert couldn't say the same about the rest of his students however as he noted a few were struggling to stay upright, some were already kneeling on the grass. The most promising student, Tabitha, appeared unperturbed by the whole event. Her face was still an unreadable mask. But her book was closed and held closely to her chest.

Abruptly the wind died down, earning confused glances from the present onlookers. Louise caught the sight of Guiche about to say something, before the ground shook beneath her. Throwing her off balance, she landed unceremoniously on her bottom.

Surprisingly, no one laughed. No insults came. She had expected atleast her moniker would've been thrown in. But no. There was silence. Sweet, blissful silence.

Louise raised her head.

Now she knew why.

What had been an empty clearing with nothing but the burnt earth to signify it was her deed was now occupied.

Because staring into her soul was a _giant_ insect, red fluctuating lights lined its edges with a few dotting on its smooth gun-grey carapace. Oddly, Louise couldn't help but notice an insignia of some kind, adorning its front sides: A white curved scorpion tail, emblazoned within a chamfered triangle. It was odd because she couldn't see a scorpion tail poking from behind its massive size. Was it a scorpion? It couldn't be, because scorpions had eight legs as opposed to its gigantic four.

Its eyes were trained on her, a deep-red, uncaring. Almost evaluating her, testing her steel against it's gaze.

If it was steel that was being tested, then there was no better person than a Valliere herself.

Louise got up on her feet, dusted and composed herself.

"Miss Valliere, please complete the bond" Instructed Professor Colbert, his voice sounded shaky.

Louise nodded and came closer to the creature. It didn't move instead she could hear _gears?_ Metal grinding and shifting from the metallic beast. Reacting with her movements somehow.

All around she could faintly make out murmurs and whispers being exchanged then came a shout from amongst the mages "It's a giant bug!"

"Ah a giant Louse for our little Louise, a perfect match wouldnt you say?" Came a snicker.

The metal creature moved its entire body to face the direction of the mages, effectively silencing the chatter. A gravelly and deep voice boomed across the court yard. Louise had learned in class before that animals of that size usually communicated verbally with their herd, though she had never seen such a creature as the one she had summoned.

Realizing the creature's attention wasn't on her she seized the opportunity, coming closer to it with all the confidence she could muster, she managed to send a vicious glare at the group of mages who were visibly quivering under the creature's gaze. Once she was close enough she begun chanting.

"My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, pentagon that governs the five powers, give this creature your blessing and make it my familiar spirit!" Ending the chant with a chaste kiss on the cold surface of the creature's side, directly on the scorpion tail emblem.

Louise took a reflexive step back as the creature turned to acknowledge her, now that she was closer it was even more daunting. The eerie hum of something resounding from the large beast and the whirring sound it made when it turned only served to chip away the bravado she had mustered.

" **Data entry added: New Prophet of the Brotherhood of NOD, Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere"**

For a moment Louise had thought it would've raised one of its massive legs and punted her across the yard, but what it had uttered through its non-existent mouth chilled her bones.

 _Prophet?_

"What are you talking about?! Brimir doesn't—You can talk?!" Louise half-shrieked.

She had summoned a creature capable of speech. It meant her familiar had advanced intellect, something that rivaled even the extinct rhyme dragons. Her excitement only grew at the revelation.

Sure it was an insect, a bug of all things she could've summoned but it talked! And it was as large as Tabitha's wind dragon.

"It's certainly an interesting summon, Miss Valliere" Said Professor Colbert earnestly.

Louise said nothing as she admired her familiar, she gently placed her hand on the emblem feeling the cold metal humming beneath her touch. She glanced towards the professor who was stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Well that's settled, everyone has their familiar. Class is dismissed!" He casted a smile towards the mages, the class began walking afew feet before eventually levitating away. The last ones to go were Kirche and Tabitha, both of them had exchanged glances then followed the rest. The former probably had nothing to to say for the very first time, Louise noted with a smirk as her familiar was something no one had summoned before.

"However I do not see any runes on your familiar, Miss Valliere" The professor added, after the courtyard had cleared.

True to his words, nothing had been inscribed on the insect's sleek body. Nothing had changed at all. Except the faint crimson glow which had lost its reddish hue, almost pinkish in fact.

"What manner of creature are you?" She heard Professor Colbert mutter under his breath.

" **I am a minor tactical A.I. dubbed Unit 424 housed within an MCV frame"** Her familiar, Unit 424, a strange name that was for sure, boomed in its deep commanding voice. Professor Colbert had jumped slightly at the sudden response, apparently not expecting one at all. Louise opened her mouth to ask what it mean by tactical A.I. and 'emseevee' but the A.I. cut her off **"Power to Louise"** It finished with apparent zeal.

"Interesting, are you a golem by any chance? You do seem to have metal components, nothing unlike an ordinary animal" The professor queried again, it seemed he was as curious as Louise.

" **Golem: Automaton or robot. Affirmative"**

 _'A golem?'_ Louise pondered, then that meant she was an earth mage. But the heavy gale from before spoke otherwise, wind and earth?

"Well, that's sorted out eh? Miss Valliere?" The Professor chuckled "You'll have plenty of time to get acquainted with your familiar… For now I have something to do" He said, his speech seemed to wander at the end. Louise paid no mind, merely nodded and said a silent thank you.

The Professor gave her one last warm smile before levitating away.

Louise watched as him as he did, silently envying the fact that she would have to walk unless she wanted to fly via explosion. Sighing, she began to walk though her steps were lighter this time. She had summoned a familiar. A brief smile tugged on her lips.

Her familiar!

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Unit 424 still fixed in its spot, its pinkish-red eyes staring back at her.

"Come on, familiar!" She ushered.

Her familiar moved towards her, ground trembling slightly as it legs landed on the earth. It stopped just inches from Louise when she thought it would run her over.

" **Humans have exhibited flight ability unrecorded before"** It stated blankly, Louise couldn't tell if it was impressed or surprised. **"Yet the Prophet humbly walks with us"**

Louise's features contorted into a scowl, softening significantly when instead of focusing on the words spoken, she focused on the delivery of the words, she swallowed down the furious retort she had readied.

Because she was prepared for everything beforehand, infact it was only a matter of time before her familiar would've noticed she couldn't do any magic without a subsequent explosion. She had steeled herself for when it would demean her. Surely a unique creature such as it—despite being an insect—would deserve a better summoner? At the back of her mind, she was even prepared if her familiar would abandon her at the end of the day, atleast she could say she had accomplished in summoning something.

But she wasn't prepared for that last bit, she wasn't expecting her familiar to be grateful at her for merely walking. It wasn't even intentional! She would've flown if she could. Louise wanted to believe what it said had a mocking undertone, but no, she could detect none and she was used to insults. She wanted to chastise her familiar for claiming her as a prophet, she wanted anything. Anything other than the utter sincerity in the words the giant construct had uttered.

Though it's voice had been emotionless and uncaring before, the zeal had resurfaced. As if it really believed the grass she was walking on should be venerated!

Truthfully, she didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand she was glad she was granted such a faithful familiar on the other it was heretical.

She ignored the tear running down her cheek and placed a hand on 424's mandible, the thrumming beneath present as ever. Almost like a cat purring, she mused.

She swore she'd do everything in her power to change her familiar's mind set but if her efforts were to be in vain and it was still set on its ways. If by some reason her familiar would not change the fact that she wasn't a prophet, then no one should ever know. She would hide her familiar in the deepest pit she could find, no one would ever take it away from her. It was her familiar. Thus it was her heretic.

"Y..Y-you stupid familiar, not everyone can fly. Only nobles" She muttered before sniffling slightly.

 **"Previously encountered nobles did not elicit aerial abilities. More data needed"** it responded, ignoring the jibe.

"Every noble can" _but you cant_ "I'm...I'm an exception"

 **"Unit requires an update on data entry: Nobles"**

"W-what?"

 **"Define nobles, Prophet"** Her familiar rephrased. A golem that had never interacted with a mage before? Well it was a talking golem. But still, it was common knowledge. Unless she summoned something beyond the deserts of Rub Al-Khali.

Louise sighed, a palm brushing over her face "Nobles can do magic" She slowly started to explain to her familiar, giving it brief information about nobles and the academy grounds, she also mentioned Brimir a few times. But when she did, her familiar brushed her off. Claiming he was a false God. Suffice to say, she made a note not to go into detail regarding Brimir with her familiar in the open anytime soon lest someone accidentally hears her familiar openly rejecting Brimir's divinity. Luckily the courtyard was still clear.

When she was confident she had briefed her familiar with everything she could regarding nobles, it had gotten darker. She had spent an afternoon educating her familiar what should've been common knowledge. She could've done this on void day, the day the mages were supposed to get to know their familiar. But she guessed the sooner the better, she nothing else to do the afternoon anyway.

She exhaled loudly, stretching her legs outwards to ease her joints from sitting crossed legged too long. Her arms propped behind her. Not a position a noble would want to find herself in or to be found by other nobles either. But she couldnt care less, not now anyway. A victorious smirk etched on her face as she pushed herself up form the ground.

She patted off the dust and turned to face her familiar, it's glowing lights were now in prominent pinkish glow. She raised an eyebrow at that. It almost matched her hair. It was a coincidence that was for sure.

"Let's go familiar, it is getting dark and I would like to have dinner"

 **"Affirmative,Prophet"** It responded, Louise turned to begin heading towards the mess hall only to find her familiar wasn't following her again.

"Whats wrong now?" She asked irritably.

 **"Though the prophet honors us by walking on the same ground"** It said almost to suggest something **"It would befit a figure such as yours to be carried by us** **"**

Louise considered the proposition for a moment then she asked "And where will I sit?"

 **"There is a small platform on the rear of this MCV. It has enough space to accommodate a human of your stature"** it turned around to display the aforementioned platform, it was true that it had a small platform placed there. Though it clearly wasn't supposed to be a seat.

Louise opened her mouth to berate her familiar for calling her short, but stopped. Closing her mouth, she shrugged her shoulders and acquiesced with her familiar's suggestion.

* * *

Melisende sighed softly, finally her class had ended. Her classmates were pouring out into academy grounds, some no doubt were on their way to dinner and some opted to skip dinner in favor of a bath. _'Oh a bath, that would be heaven'_ the third year sighed again.

Third year in Tristain academy had not gone soft on her, it was a wonder to her how her parents made through the academy. All she wanted was to learn magic and its various applications. Not how to act infront of commoners and engage in politics! Thats all she was learning in third year, politics. Bollocks.

 _'no matter_ ' she calmed herself.

"Ahaha! Go familiar!" A loud shrill voice filled the space.

She glanced at the direction and saw her nightmares made flesh: a _giant_ bug was trudging across academy grounds. It's numerous eyes were glowing reddish-pink. It's footfalls resounded and the ground trembled beneath its every step. She pushed herself into a wall and tried to shrink herself to no avail. It's voice was so wrong. It was so wrong for a creature that big to have a voice of a child.

Eventually when the creature came closer, she had accepted her death at the hands-or claws in her case- She was too busy recounting the times she had yelled at her mother to be technical. Now she couldn't apologize.

She covered her eyes as the massive body cast a shadow over her, seconds went by and she noticed the footfalls were becoming distant. She willed herself to uncover her face just to catch the sight of the creature trudging away. With a clear view of its rear, her eyes widened when she spot a small figure of a pink-haired girl standing on something, her arm appeared to be extended.

That was the last thing she saw before blacking out from the sheer stress.

* * *

 **AN:** Heres another chappie! I also apologize for them not being up to standard with the other authors. ie. 4-6 k per chap. Im churning out chaps as fast as I can before college starts.

And just so you guys know, I will deviate from cannon so hard in the next few chaps. It will be a conqueror!Louise fic. So I urge the readers that find this distasteful, I have intended this to happen from the start, so please turn around.I'm already deviating from cannon louise anyway lmao. She's not as tsun! I needed to wreck her before she could become the great prophet of NOD! It'll be a slow burn though.

Guest : I'm basing it off global conquest so, the LTB was not present and did not go off. But I assure you, much of the tech will still be there. Twisting canon so much in this. I apologize.


	3. Chapter 3 : Our cabal emerges

I do not own the CnC universe and the Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima

* * *

Chapter 3 : Our cabal emerges!

The sky held two moons.

One was large mass of azure whilst the other was smaller faint red, the twin moons seemed to provide each other company on that starless night. Grey clouds floated lazily across the sky whilst cold winds caressed the edges of the visible forest. It was a silent night. As the peacefulness felt like an intermission before a great event.

Unit 424 was sure of its prediction, great times were coming indeed and when that time comes. It would make sure a flag bearing the infamous black curved scorpion tail would fly.

But until then, the A.I. was—for the lack of a better word—stumped by its current predicaments. It had come to a quick conclusion that it was not on war-torn Earth anymore. One, its earlier observation of the night time sky yielded zero match with it's old planet. The constellations were non-existent and not to mention the apparent presence of two moons. Second, the tiberium. There was no tiberium to be found. Not an inkling, not even a shard of the hazardous material.

Unit 424 had even scanned other humans. even the other creatures and none had tiberium radiation.

That fact alone had it's programs running in overdrive.

The brotherhood of NOD was dependent on the extraterrestrial mineral. The ascension of man hinged on its presence!

The advantage however, was that the local flora and fauna would be more docile. An image of the dragon it had seen earlier that day appeared, sent by one of it's programs. _I said Docile, not harmless_. Unit 424 replied.

Atleast it meant no more visceroids, a revelation that relieved Unit 424's hazardous fauna protocols.

The A.I. shifted slightly as it ignored the requests from programs informing it to expand a base of operations. The requests were coming in droves, some arguing it was past time they've dallied with the locals of the new planet and it was time to spread the NOD influence lest the church of this 'Brimir' caught wind of the true prophet. Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere.

At the mention of the name, a chorus of binary surged through its systems, translating to _Glory to Louise!_

That was the icing to it's cake. A new prophet, one that had much to be desired in the physical appearance department. However, it was apparent that the new prophet was indirectly quoting the previous prophet, Kane, in some ways. This only served to strengthen the resolution in the _dumber_ programs in it's systems, urging the A.I. to construct a hand of NOD so they could inhabit an awakened body and serve the prophet directly.

Unit 424 wasn't easily fooled by speech, though stepping into the portal in the first place was something it wouldn't admit it did willingly. The winds and sheer force buffeting from the portal would've pushed it in despite its heavy mass anyway.

It still believed in Kane when it stepped through, appearing in a clearing surrounded by oddly clothed humans.

But that changed when it felt the prophet touch it's chassis the first time, at that exact moment was when every subsystem and program was bombarded by an influx of information, altering various code and instructions down to the most basic binary.

Peculiar however, was that the intrusion only altered it's loyalty programming. It wasn't forceful, no, it didn't shatter it's systems like a G.D.I. E.V.A. would have. It merely pushed every attempt to stop the intrusion aside gently. As if suggesting what it was going to do was for the greater good. And how Unit 424 agreed.

Unit 424 mind's eye was opened when the intruding force was done with it's ministrations. The girl it saw a few seconds before as pathetic, weak and undesirable was replaced by one of unparalleled beauty and strength. A beacon of hope for the myriad walks of life upon the still green earth. It will be greener still when it was seeded with tiberium that was for certain.

Yes, unit 424 affirmed, Louise would make a great leader for the envisioned ascension.

Yet the only problem was she was unwilling to admit that she was the prophet. Though her humility was something organics-and some it programs- found to be admirable, it was concerning. She cannot lead without first accepting her role.

But the A.I. was nothing if not patient, it predicted it was only a matter of time before she was forced to accept her role as the bringer of light and truth to the inhabitants of this land, Tristania. Magic or not, the Brotherhood will not be easily snuffed.

Unit 424 delved deep within it's well of knowledge, a massive pool of information detailing from the early stages of man's civilization to its current. Everything was catalogued and recorded, nothing was omitted from its library. Except maybe the G.D.I tech, an example would be the behemoth tank MARV the G.D.I. began deploying after the re-emergence of LEGION. Such monstrosity was preposterous and unpractical. It much preferred the Redeemer and its counterparts due to its flexibility and sheer psychological impact it had on the G.D.I. front.

It reached it's intended directory, an old entry dating back to the early stages of the public appearance of the brotherhood: the 1800's.

Unit 424's processors allowed it to mull over the thousands of digital files in the directory in minutes, highlighting important facts for future reference and basically learning the stratagems employed by the officers of days past.

The brotherhood had much fewer members back then, even lesser was their influence in the global arena. What small states they had in their pockets were not secured by money nor it was promise of glory.

Prominent historical figures became members of the brotherhood not through material possessions though funds were sent, but only to further expand the Nod ambition.

It was a recurring theme, funds were flowing through the various member states and nations but nothing suggested they were being used for personal reasons. As more funds were sent, Nod influence grew. It meant the money was being put to good use, it meant their minds were solely on the interests of the Brotherhood.

Programs within the A.I. felt a row of binary being sent to them, it was an equivalent of a smirk.

What tied all these events together was not the money, no, it was a much simpler. A simple game of hearts and minds. What better way to instill loyalty in the brotherhood than common belief. After all, the new Prophet was set on this Brimir so much.

"Eeeek!" A feminine shout rang through the empty yard where Unit 424 had taken refuge, its massive size meant it couldn't navigate through the halls of the tower where Louise had retired to.

Unit 424 drew back its resources from the knowledge dive, it noticed a black haired female in another set of odd garments: A black dress, covered by an apron with an orange bowtie, finishing the ensemble was a white headwear and a pair of black boots. She had been carrying a large basket full of laundry before she dropped it on the grass. Fortunately for her, it did not tip over. It wouldn't be much of a help with tasks requiring opposing digits.

Her face was an expression of pure fright, her eyes were wide as saucers and her index finger extended at Unit 424 as if to accuse it of something.

"B-b-bug!" She screamed.

The A.I. felt a tinge of pride coming from it's programs, not many had displayed fear when seeing an MCV on Earth. Even the civilian G.D.I. sympathizers had the audacity to lob rocks when an MCV would enter their camps.

Suffice to say, they weren't throwing anything when they were nothing but ashes on the ground, stomped by the squads of black hand operatives, each with a flamethrower in hand.

" **This unit greets you, human"** It spoke in a calming manner, though it enjoyed the reaction it was receiving from the human, they were more rational when calm.

It's speech seemed to surprise the female further as she jumped at the sound of its voice. "Y-you can t-talk?" She stuttered, her arms coming to wrap around herself.

" **Of course"** it replied succinctly.

"B-but you're a bug!" The maid remarked, her finger pointing at Unit 424 again.

The tactical A.I. had to remind itself it wasn't on Earth anymore, it was on Tristania where warfare involved muskets, melee and cannons still utilized gunpowder.

" **I am Unit 424"** It introduced itself **"A golem in service of Nod and ultimately the Prophet Louise Francoise"**

The girl relaxed slightly at it's explanation, she began picking up the basket.

"A golem? Louise you say?" The female appeared to be surprised "O-oh! I apologize!" She bowed curtly. "My name is Siesta of… Tarbes, I'm a maid… uh… in service of the Tristania Academy" The maid, Siesta, introduced uncertainly. Almost unsure if it wouldn't understand basic human speech.

" **Glory to Louise"** Unit 424 finished with the customary Brotherhood greeting.

"Glory to Louise… ?" She replied meekly, truthfully it sounded like she was asking a question. "Um, what did you mean by prophet Louise?" She shifted the basket between her hands, it probably weighed quite abit.

" **Prophet Louise, the leader of the ascension."**

"Louise de La Valliere? But…" She trailed, Unit 424 knew she was refraining from speaking ill of the prophet.

" **Speak your mind, Siesta of Tarbes"** It lowered it's vocal volume intending to reassure the maid. It worked as the maid began slowly looking sideways before releasing a breath.

"Miss Valliere can't do magic as well as the other nobles, its quite hard to imagine her leading anything" The maid stated.

" **Are you not bothered by the fact that we refer to her as a prophet when Brimir is the only divine?"**

The response from the maid was an erratic one as her face twisted one of confusion then realization and finally remorse. She dropped the basket again to wave her palms at the tactical A.I. "Noononono!" came a string of denial "That's not what I meant… I-erm" She cleared her throat.

" **It does not matter Siesta of Tarbes, believe what you will. The brotherhood does not discriminate against religion. Only for its members to accept the truth"** It referred to the various religious buildings on Earth that proudly flew the Nod flag.

Silence settled between them as the maid seemed to mull over what it had said. Eventually a thoughtful hum came from the maid. "And what truth would that be… ?"

" **Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere will lead us into the future, a future of peace: where men can stand on equal footing with one another"** It finished with a firm resoluteness in it's tone.

"Equals?" Voiced the maid quietly, as if the mere mention of the words were taboo.

" **Affirmative, the ascension will mark the new era of human civilization unseen before"**

"That…" Her eyes wandered "Sounds like a very peculiar thing for a familiar to say!" She laughed nervously. "I'm sorry for cutting our conversation short Mr. 424, I have to attend to these" She lifted the basket and walked away hurriedly.

" **Glory to Louise"** The A.I. said, ending the conversation.

As it watched the maid walk away, it's enhanced audio receptors caught a word muttered by the maid "Glory…"

When it was sure the maid was gone, it resumed its research. As it did it marked off a particular objective it had added during it's conversation with the maid.

 **[ / ] Faith in the brotherhood, faith undivided.**

 _Plant the seeds of uncertainty within the general population of Halkeginia._

Humans intrigued 424 in their simplicity and their complexity at the same time. Often illogical beings following whatever they chose to believe instead of a logical line of thought, through their stubborn belief however they persevered through the ages. Something it admired. Something this world was rich with. Everyone held a particular belief towards this Brimir figure, even the prophet.

Unit 424 was wrong to dismiss the importance of the Brimir figure, it admitted. After all, Kane previously, had never one to reject his followers based on their religion. All were welcomed. Why should it be any different with the new prophet?

Yes, that was it.

Acceptance, one of the most basic organic necessity. A wolf needs it's pack and a sheep in its herd. Every organic yearned for acceptance.

The tactical A.I. was engrossed with its rediscovery of such an important aspect, it would've patted itself on the back if it could. The prophet yearned for acceptance amongst her peers. The A.I. quickly analyzed its earlier recording of the prophet's body language at the time of it's arrival

She displayed an array of extreme emotions when the other _nobles_ chided her. It noted with distaste.

If the prophet was denied membership of a clique from this world—then it decided—she would start a new one. A prophet of not only the brotherhood, but of this Brimir figure.

But before it could spread such a scandalous claim it would need to have a strong basis. Or as human MCV operators would say: the foundation must be true. And it needed to be true for the influence of the brotherhood to grow. It was one thing to start a new religion, on Earth they would be more lenient with a new teaching. Here, it had no data to refer but basing on the reaction of the prophet it was a death sentence.

And it was another to openly admit one was a prophet of an existing religion, that was heresy at it's finest. Nothing short of a head on a chopping block would suffice a heretic in this Tristania.

Further data entries were needed.

The tactical A.I. pondered on it's next step towards Nod's ambitions, hundreds of feet above the A.I. flying soundlessly through the night was a dragon, it's blue scales effectively cloaking it against the dark skies. It had flown over the area over the course of a couple of hours now.

It's rider, none other than the diminutive Tabitha of Gallia, the genius of the second year, had wanted to land an hour earlier. But before she could deliver the order, it had spotted the large insect Louise had summoned.

The rider and the summon flew circles around the academy awhile longer then, the rider had been observing the curious insectoid creature with critical eyes. Nothing had suggested it was organic, the pulsating reddish-pink lights were unnatural and its metal components only strengthened her argument.

She had been eavesdropping on their conversation using a spell she learned during her time as a chevalier knight. And her normally indifferent facial features dropped for a moment as she heard the words exchanged between the maid and familiar.

"Trouble" She had stated silently earning a confused 'kyuu?' from Sylphid.

Tapping the dragon gently on it's head to signal for it to land, Tabitha made a note to closely observe Louise's familiar in the near future.

The dragon disappeared over the clouds. Taking it's rider for one last spin before retiring for the night.

As the rider and familiar disappeared, the tactical A.I. had marked off another one of it's objectives.

 **Additional objective completed: [ / ] Guidance for the masses**

 _Have more than one attendee in your sermon, Power to Kane!_

As it read the entry unit 424 made sure to adjust some of its finer programs when it had time to spare.

* * *

Within the hundreds of rooms within the eastern tristanian academy, laid a sleeping form of Louise le Blanc de La Valliere. Adorned in her usual night dress, alighter shade of pink than her hair. She slept soundly, as for the first time in her life her day had ended with a good note.

It didn't start as well, but the end result was the same. She had summoned something!

During dinner she had smiled through the usual insults. Unfazed by the jibes she had received during meal time. It was irrelevant if her familiar was a bug or something else entirely. What had mattered that it was her familiar.

Though the cow Kirche had skipped their usual exchange of _pleasantries_ in opt for a silent meal. One that Louise had enjoyed immensely without having to listen to the Germanian.

She shifted in her sleep as the rare happy dreams where everything in her life went perfect slowly disappeared into the background. The happy face of her mother smiling at her, praising the wonderful painting she had done faded into smoke. The cheery laugh of her cured sister, Cattleya, were now a faint echo and all else was gone forgotten.

Replaced by a bleak background: she was standing ontop of a hill overlooking a desolate plain. Craters riddled the ground, tendrils of black smoke still lingered. Farther out the horizon she could see a tripod creature, as massive as the main academy tower, lumbering to its destination. Three tentacle arms sprouted from its head, each firing a beam of pure energy the resulting explosion reached her ears a few seconds later.

She closed her eyes, convincing herself it was only a dream. Scrunching her eyes tight as her nails bury themselves into her palm in an intense grip.

But that was her mistake, she had willed herself to know it was a dream, opening her eyes once more. She screamed as her vision was filled with _thousands_ of the tripod creatures, its beam weapons were trained on her. Their eerie horns blaring in the background non-stop in an orchestra.

Her dream—nay—her nightmare was now lucid.

Skies were a covered by sickly clouds like patches of grey moss. A few rays of sunlight managed to shine through, but only to be intercepted by a flying ship of massive proportions effectively casting a dark shadow over her. It was shaped like a fish bone, though it soon changed when the individual parts of the bone started flying off, encircling her. Making a loud buzzing noise as the swarm flew around her.

"G-G-Get away from me!" She shrieked, forcing herself not to back off lest she stumbled into one of the creature's legs.

The only response was a continuous blare from their horns.

She ruffled her clothes for her wand and cursed when she noticed she was wearing her night gown.

One of the creatures took a step forward, it's a green ball of light shone brightly on every one of its beam weapons, turning around she noticed every one of them had the green glow.

Closing her eyes, she readied herself for what was coming.

"Louise!" A familiar voice shouted after her, a pair of hand landed on her shoulders to shake her.

She jumped awake from her bed, sweat matted her luxurious pink hair to her skin. Her covers had been thrown off, and pillows were all over the bed.

Louise rubbed her eyes, as the last vestiges of sleep disappeared. She noticed a very familiar red-head beside her bed adorned with an awfully suggestive black night gown.

"What are you doing here, Zerbst!?" She managed to blurt "And where are your clothes?!"

The Germanian's reply was a haughty laugh followed by a wink "Ano? I thought it was clear? Youre sweating aren't you Louise~?"

Despite the nightmare she had earlier, a tinge of red invaded Louise's cheeks. Balling her fists to her sides, she glared at the Zerbst "I'm serious! Unlike you I have to sleep to replenish my energy, you succubus" She finished lamely, she wasn't prepared for a fight with the Germanian. Not at this hour atleast and truth be told she was grateful to the Zerbst for waking her up.

The Germanian's haughtiness vanished, her face taking a more serious expression. "Relax, you were having a nightmare. I thought I should wake you up"

"And since when do you care?" Louise retorted crossing her arms over her chest.

"I always have cared" Kirche mumbled.

"wha-" Before Louise could call the Zerbst out for her obvious lie the walls of her room shook. The wallpaper began peeling off, revealing rivers of cracks running across the walls.

And then a horn blared.

" _No!_ " Louise gasped.

But it was too late, the walls finally gave under the cracks, crumbling like dirt. Revealing the same background she had seen before, but now it was the grounds of the Academy. Students were running from the tripod creatures to no avail. Some were squashed under their feet, the lucky ones were disintegrated in a blast of blue energy.

In the sky, she could see a blue dragon being harried by a swarm of flying constructions. A flash of green came and hit the dragon on its hind leg. And another flash came, tearing into the dragon's left wing, it plummeted from the sky. Its pursuers did not relent, bolts of green still struck the plummeting dragon. Louise could barely make out the small figure free falling before managing to levitate itself. Then one of the pursuers broke off and ran into the figure.

"Louise!" She shook her head and looked at the direction the voice came from.

Surprisingly the Zerbst was still on her bed. "Come—ack!"

Louise said nothing, _did_ nothing as she watched her long rival, Kirche von Zerbst got struck by a bolt of blue beam. The beam burnt through the Zerbt's like she was made out of butter, searing the wall across the room as the beam got through the last of the Zerbst's flesh.

The beam died down, as well as the germanian as she her lifeless body slumped onto Louise's bare legs. Her face frozen into one of utter agony and desperation, as if crying for Louise to save her at the last moments.

That was the last straw, what followed Louise's choked sob was a whimper then a full out wail of anguish.

The sounds of death died down.

"It can be prevented" said a soothing voice.

Louise opened her eyes, and she was back on the hill, but what lay beyond what used to be a desolate battle ground had lush green grass. Beyond that she could see a ea of green crystals poking out of the ground.

Across her stood a bald man, not unlike Professor Colbert, this man had a completely bald head. Yet it somehow suited him perfectly, his features were sharp. Like something molded from clay. He had a goatee and wore some sort of religious garb, a familiar scorpion tail logo adorned his shoulders. He had his hands clasped firmly infront of him.

"Louise" He said softly, she sniffled.

"Listen to me, they can be prevented"

"H-how?" She managed to croak.

"I will not lie to you, my daughter" He sighed, turning his back to her to gesture at the beautiful scene before them. "Before it can become what you see here, before something could be built" he shaped his hand into a fist "It must be destroyed, a forest will burn down. But it will grow back. I cannot promise there will be no death, my daughter. But you can prevent the extinction of our species" He turned to face her again.

"And that is a better option than total annihilation, surely your mother drilled you that? The majority takes precedence before the minority!" He drawled, taking a deep breath he continued "Dark times are coming my child, but you can be the light. The salvation! You will become the beacon of hope for the hopeless lost."

"B-but how can I prevent those-those—things! From killing everyone!?" She snapped. The man had a kind speech, but her patience was wearing thin. He was dancing around the bushes with the entire matter when all she wanted to hear was the solution.

"Patience my child, first you must accept the fact that not everyone can be saved. Some will be lost during the journey and some—will be needed to be sacrificed"

"I don't care! Anything is preferable than total death!"

"Then we shall see" he muttered "But for now, you need to muster forces under your banner, my daughter"

"And how will I do that? Can't I just… inform the Queen? The Tristain military?" She responded.

"They would not believe your words my child and to answer you, just have faith in yourself" He smiled, waving a hand at Louise.

White light shone throughtout her vision, blinding her momentarily and once her eyes were open again. The man had disappeared. Instead, her smiling mother was present again with her sister happily laughing away at one of Eleonore's jokes. Suffice to say, she didn't sleep very well that night.

* * *

 **AN:** inspiration flowed through me in this one, had fun writing the last bit. I'm sorry if i took it too far in destroying louise. **heheh!** we can't have her claiming to be a prophet without a valid reason eh? that'd be against her undying loyalty to Brimir and Henrietta.

There will be some minor errors here and there in this chapter, since i havent sent it to my temporary beta reader. But i reread it couple o times just to make sure.

Thank you for the kind reviews! :)

King of ferrets: like how we ordinarily start our games we usually have a cache of tiberium ready. minium 10k. but since 424 was to set up a resource base hes going to get a boost of 25k. and when it runs out we'll seed it.

tentaclecat: actually had a chat with tankred regarding his fic, he is working on it dont worry! i actually asked him first if i could use his idea and warp it abit and follow acolyte of zero's route.

and now that we're going into deeper waters, i would like to ask what you readers would like to see and not want to see, and say anything if im doing anything wrong with the story, plot wise. gets weird after awhile. tripod tentacles. heh smh.


	4. Chapter 4 : NCO

I do not own the C&C franchise and the Familiar of Zero/ Zero no Tsukaima

* * *

Chapter 4 : N.C.O.

* * *

Siesta always saw herself as someone who was fated to work as a maid or a kitchen hand for the rest of her life. After all, she was a mere commoner. But she didn't hold it against anyone, she had never hated anyone in her life and she had never went out of her way to spite the pompous nobles she was ordered to serve.

No, if anything she viewed herself as someone better than them. Maybe not a noble defined by the Halkeginian Aristocracy, but she definitely saw herself as a noble in the most traditional of sense. She strived to be kind, caring and loyal. Her uniform was always sharp and creases were non-existent, her job was secured and if she kept at it she would be head maid in a decade or two.

"Breakfast in five minutes!" Came the voice of the head chef, Marteau, from the kitchen.

Siesta complied, with amazing efficiency granted by months of work. She appeared to be gliding beside the massive tables as she began distributing the plates of pancakes. She was followed by a dozen of other maids, working like a well oiled machine as they completed the breakfast preparations for the students.

When all the preparations were complete, a bell rung. Moments later, the massive wooden door to the dining hall opened. Students poured into the hall, each had varying colors of cloaks to signify their years.

As the students took their seats, the maids begun taking places near the walls incase any of the nobles required assistance.

Siesta stifled a snort at that thought. _'Assisstance?'_ Did they need her to spoon feed them too?

When the students were done with their prayers to Brimir, the sounds of utensils scraping and clanking against plates filled the room followed by chatter.

Siesta allowed herself to relax and her mind wander.

She recounted the events that happened to her the night before, the meeting with the strange familiar of Miss Valliere. She was shocked at first, the sheer size of something insect-like had caused her to drop her laundry, Founder be praised it hadn't spill across the yard.

Then the thing begun to speak! Brimir, she thought she had lost it by that moment. Thankfully it had only four legs, any more she would've kick feet and ran.

But the words spoken next were the ones that caught her off guard. The words her grandfather had repeated throughout the years with so much fervor his eyes seemed to burn fire.

"Glory to Kane!" Her grandfather would say, with his fist on his chest.

Siesta felt her legs grew faint, but she held on.

The familiar had spoken with as much zeal as her grandfather had years ago. Though it appeared to fully believe that Louise was the prophet. Now that she thought about it, she had caught sight of a scorpion emblem on the sides of it's shell.

The same scorpion emblem that adorned the side of the metal contraption that laid in her father's shed.

Maybe all the tales her grandfather had told her a long time ago were true, where commoners flew as fast as a mage and buildings as high as the eye could see dominated the skyline like trees. Just maybe the stories of the great man her grandfather revered was a historical fact rather than something a wishful commoner would daydream.

A man that brought peace with an iron fist.

Siesta's eyes flickered towards the middle table, catching the sight of a disheveled pink haired girl, her cloak looked like it been put on hastily. Her clothes were a little rumpled and she could see the tiredness in her eyes.

That was the girl who was supposed to bring the ascension.

Miss Valliere had not touch her food, Siesta noted from afar as she saw her pancakes were still pristine. The imported syrup glistened on the pancakes as rays of sunshine shone through the glass panels decorating the hall.

Siesta knew what she needed to do. Whilst she had no intention of being branded a heretic. She wouldn't miss the chance to be the one to say she had been there from the start. A servant of the bringer of the new era.

Maybe Miss Valliere would even reward her with a title of her own.

With her decision made, she approached the table assigned to the second years.

Louise's thoughts were on nothing particularly as she poked the well-made pancake on her plate with a fork. Her mother would've lightly reprimanded her for playing with her food, she thought with a slight frown.

"Had a nice night, Zero~?" Said a haughty voice suggestively. Louise didn't bother lifting her head to acknowledge her rival.

"I'll call you when I need a cup of milk, Zerbst" She sighed.

The germanian snickered "Why? Because yours are as flat as an iron board?"

"Listen here you!" Louise pushed herself from her seat, the legs of her chair scraping noisily against the marble floor. Earning annoyed gazes from nearby students.

Louise was standing, her head tilted upwards to glare at the Germanian who had an eyebrow curved upwards, surprised at Louise's response.

"I-I had the worst night of my life!" An index finger poked at the air infront of the Zerbst accusingly "And I don't need your _shite_ this early in the morning!"

The Zerbst had a shocked expression her face, her hand over her mouth.

"Now, now Loui-" Guiche de Gramont tried to calm her, but she wasn't having any of it as she turned to cast a death glare at the Gramont, effectively shutting the boy up.

"And you!"

"U-u-uh? Me?" He stammered under the Valliere's gaze, she stomped closer to him. Louise noticed he was quivering slightly in his seat, hands clutching the sides of his chair. "You look… different, Zer—"

Louise cut him off by slapping his glass of water off the table, a resounding crash came later. "I've been forced to endure mockery and the incessant name calls from you ever since my first miscasted spell" He opened his mouth to retort "No! You don't get to say anything! You moronic blonde fop!"

A gasp came from her rear. "Who are you calling a blonde fop?!" A brunette came running from behind her to wedge herself between the two nobles. Judging by her cloak she was a first year. Probably one of the many first years to fall for the Gramont's lies.

"A-ah, Katie! It's alright! I can handle it" Guiche assured the girl as he got up from his seat.

"And who is Katie?" A sweet voice asked, Louise maintained the glare she was directing at the two lovers.

"Monmon! Oh uh" His voice faltered.

Louise wanted to break a smile, the rat was caught in a trap. She was too tired however, her irritation had reached brand new heights. Usually she would've swallowed the rage building inside of her in accordance with the rule of steel. But she was glad she hadn't . Who knew bemeaning could be so stress relieving.

" _Oh_ is quite right, _Guiche de Gramont_ " Montromency drawled slowly, promises of pain evident in every syllable of her sentence. The blonde girl, gently pried Louise away from her stare off.

Before Louise could voice her protest, another set of hands grabbed her by the arm. Pulling her away from the escalating scene. As she was pulled away she noticed the blank look a certain Germanian was sending her.

Louise glanced away to acknowledge her savior and was surprised to find herself led outside the dining hall to the courtyard by a maid with raven black hair cut into a bob. She had a determined look on her face as she dragged the Valliere, which was the only reason why Louise allowed herself to be touched so flippantly by a commoner.

They halted when they reached a secluded section of the academy, the maid let out a sigh of relief. Louise just maintained the scowl she had on her face. The maid turned around to speak, Louise quickly held out a hand to stop her "Why did you do that commoner?" She asked.

The maid curtsied politely, unfazed by the acidity in the Valliere's tone "Forgive me, milady. I thought it would be best I remove you from the presence of such ill company"

"And why would you concern yourself with the business of nobles?!" she growled.

The maid didn't respond, instead she looked both ways. Louise caught the maid nodding to herself, probably satisfied there was no one else at that particular part of the academy, Louise mused. Then the maid knelt down infront of Louise. Normally she wouldn't be concerned by the gesture but the addition of the maid's hand coming to her chest in a fist signifying loyalty worried her.

"Glory to you, prophet" She said "I could not stand to see the leader of the ascension suffer at the hands of weak-minded individuals"

Louise's mouth was agape.

"Wha?" The ire boiling inside her had evaporated, replaced by a sense of bewilderment. Taking a deep breath, she began asking slowly "What do you mean—stand up for Brimir sake!—" Louise ushered maid up awkwardly as she helped the commoner to her feet without actually touching her. "What do you mean prophet?"

"Honestly I don't know milady, but my grandfather would always tell me stories of a great man who would welcome the new age" The maid answered, Louise detected nothing but honesty in her tone.

"As you can see I'm a lady so I cannot be the man youre talking about" She paused "And stop this prophet nonsense." Louise crossed her arms over her chest. "If anyone heard you saying such outrageous things it would be the end for you, maid."

The maid bowed her head.

"What is your name, commoner?" Louise asked out of curiosity. She hoped the maid wouldn't misinterpret her intention.

"Are you going to report me?" Her voice shook, Louise immediately regretted asking the question. The maid was probably on the verge of tears.

Louise brushed a palm over her face, she let out a deep sigh "No, merely curious"

"Thank you… prophet" Louise opened her mouth to protest but the maid curtsied again "My name is Siesta, I hail from the small village of Tarbes, Milady"

Louise nodded, her thoughts were on her familiar. Which was the only other creature to call her a prophet. Maybe there was a connection? It wouldn't hurt to ask. "Have you seen a giant bug… creature?" Louise tried.

Siesta's head shot up "Yes, the golem. Your familiar, is that correct?"

The maid was a ball of energy, Louise was hard pressed to keep up with her, sighing again she answered "Yes, did you converse with it?"

"Why yes!" Siesta responded cheerfully, Louise felt another sigh coming up as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Why wasn't she surprised. What did she expect from a heretical familiar? To keep it's views to itself? "I envy Mr.424, I could never hope to match a golem. It's faith in you must be undying, unfaltering" The maid finished absently.

' _faith in me?'_ Louise asked herself. Images of last night's dream flashed in her mind, oddly she was only reminded of the bald man at the end of her dream. His words ringing in her ears.

' _Have faith in yourself'_

Louise met the maid's eyes as she asked "And you have faith in me?"

The answer came instantly in the form of a fist over the maid's chest, her head bowed. "Faith undivided, your eminence"

The Valliere turned on her heel and began sauntering towards her tower with the maid scurrying after her. "Where are we going?" Siesta asked.

"We are going to see my familiar" Louise answered quickly.

The duo navigated through the archways leading to her tower, they passed various other mages of different years. Some casted a wary glance towards Louise, which she shrugged off. Other mages were more open with their distrust as they casually mention her with the moniker she hated so much, earning a scowl from the Valliere.

Siesta made a special note to slip laxatives into the meals of the more vocal ones as she faithfully followed the prophet, sending minor glares of her own as she did. Where had she procured a backbone to defy the mages she didn't know. But it felt satisfying to stand up for once—even though it wasn't for herself.

When they reached their intended destination, Louise spotted the MCV still rooted to the same spot she had left her the night before. It turned to look at her, she swore she could never get used to something so large moving so lithely.

" **Prophet"** it boomed, **"Siesta of Tarbes"** It added, that confirmed the maid's statement of having chatted with her familiar.

"Familiar!" She hissed "If anyone caught whiff of you spreading these lies… " She trailed as her voice broke near the end "You'd be taken away from me! We're lucky this commoner didn't report you to headmaster Osmond, you didn't did you?" She glanced at Siesta who only shook her head. That was a relief at least, why the commoner was so accepting of her being a false prophet was beyond her.

Unit 424 appeared to caught on quickly as it answered without missing a beat **"The brotherhood must expand, prophet. For that to happen you will need loyal followers to spread the word of Nod"**

Again, she was confused by the words being spoken by her familiar. Words of Nod?

"Its high time we—"

"Zero!" A yell interrupted her.

She turned and noticed a livid Gramont, his cheeks were tinged red and swelled slightly and his clothes ruffled stomping towards her from across the yard.

"I have no time for this…" Louise groaned in exasperation.

" **We agree, it is high time you are made privy to the Brotherhood"** It voiced Louise's unfinished sentence. **"Siesta of Tarbes, hop onto the platform on this unit's rear"**

Before Louise could ask what it was planning on doing, she was flicked into the air by one of 424's giant legs, landing on it's smooth carapace with a clank. Her metal pentagram pin holding her cloak digging into her chest slightly and she winced. "Ouch!" She yelped, her hands scrambling to take hold of the MCV's sides as it begun moving.

With each movement of its legs, Louise was thrown side to side. Her grip tightened. "Where are you taking me you stupid familiar?!" She shrieked.

"Zero! Are such a coward you wouldn't even face me?" Came a distant yell.

"Shut up, Guiche!" Was her irritated reply.

Louise fought to hold on as she tried to see where her impulsive familiar was taking her. She wasn't surprised when the proud towers of the academy passed her vision. Shrinking smaller with each step her golem familiar took. Eventually the liberating spring breeze stroked her face, inadvertently calming her somewhat.

"Where are you taking us?" Louise asked, her voice bouncing off the metal surface.

" **We acknowledge the fact the subject of the Brotherhood of Nod is a sensitive subject, we must relocate to a safer location"** 424 replied.

"Could you atleast _relocate_ me to a better position" She groused, her thighs were chafing against the metal surface.

It's movements ceased abruptly and she was reminded the lessons regarding inertia in one of her physic classes as her grip tightened considerably against unit 424's edges to counteract the force threatening to throw her off.

"Don't stop so suddenly!" She barked, sliding down the creature's shell. When her feet reached solid ground, she slapped Unit 424's carapace. "Stupid" She mumbled just for good measure, the A.I. remained silent as she walked to the rear of the MCV. Joining a smiling Siesta on the small platform.

Once she was safely on the platform, it resumed its gait. Though not as fast and as comfortable as a carriage, it was far better than walking, Louise reasoned.

"Are you troubled, Miss Valliere?" The maid's polite voice shook her from her reverie.

A small smile crept Louise's lips "Troubled?" She repeated "Oh no! I'm not troubled! I'm completely fine!" Her tone was implying the opposite, Siesta noticed Louise's knuckles were white from gripping an impromptu handle for holding onto the MCV. "I just insulted another noble—wait make that two nobles!—during breakfast and to top it off I'm skipping classes with a maid!" She finished with a subdued laugh, her free hand coming to wipe the edges of her eyes. Siesta didn't know whether it was tears of joy or grief. Probably a mix of both.

"Miss Valliere… " Louise heard the maid mutter softly. She looked up and her eyes met Siesta's. They were caring and kind, like Cattleya's.

No words were spoken.

The heavy footfalls of 424 filled the silence. Louise bit back the tears, if her mother found out about her familiar. About what it was doing, warping the blief of faithful followers of Brimir. She shuddered thinking what her mother would do. What the church would do.

"I'm fine… " She let out a deep breath. It was no use pondering on what ifs. What mattered was now. She decided.

The maid seemed to believe her as she nodded happily and resumed gazing towards the horizon. The towers of the academy had long disappeared from view. Instead, the vegetation grew wilder with thick bushes obscuring the edges of the forest.

Louise recognized that particular road, it was the main road leading to the academy. "Isn't this far enough for you to explain?!" Louise yelled over the thumps of 424's footsteps.

" **There is no need to shout, prophet. Our enhanced auditory receptors enable us to filter the background noise"**

Louise didn't understand a word her familiar had said—maybe that was an exaggeration—because she definitely understood what it meant but it spoke in a manner that was unnatural to her and to an extent the whole of Halkeginia even.

" **To answer you however, we calculated that it would be most beneficial if a base of operations is deployed as soon as possible"**

"Base?" Louise had a hard time imagining her familiar chopping down wood and carrying stones to build anything. Much less a base of operations. A brick hut with a wooden roof didn't sound appealing to her. And she was supposed to lead a revolution? From brick huts?!

" **Affirmative, it is better to reserve your judgement for now, prophet. You will witness the power of Nod soon"** It reassured, pride seemed to drip from its tone. Louise thought it was probably eager to prove it's usefulness to her, a prophet.

Louise felt treasured, honoured by her familiar. Though the circumstances could be different. She had to take solace in the little things.

' _Yes the little things'_ Louise mused. Here she was, leading a rebellion at it's infancy. Her name would go down in history as the de La Valliere whom betrayed her Queen and country.

Louise shook her head, no, it wasn't true. Her thoughts were errant at best. There would be no rebellion and she would not be a traitor to the crown. She was just spending time with her heretical familiar.

And a heretical maid, she finished as she caught the sight of Siesta at the corner of her eye.

Louise felt 424 turning directions, diverging from the main road and into the wilderness evident by the sound of branches breaking and bushes being trampled by her familiar.

The Valliere was shocked if not amazed by her familiar's resilience, it had been trudging through the uncharted forest unhindered as she rarely felt 424 moving to circle around a tree. Instead it knocked over whichever unfortunate tree that laid in it's path.

Only seldom did it turn to avoid walking into the bigger ones as it was dangerous to even attempt knocking them down.

Louise made a mental note to refrain herself from degrading her familiar in the near future.

They exited the forest, Louise winced as the sun began beating down on her. She brought a hand to cover her eyes. The sound of the tall grass scrunching like wet paper towels filled her ears, the ground was probably softer thus the sounds of her familiar's footsteps were muted somewhat.

Louise was bewildered as to why 424 had suddenly stopped in the middle of the field, the tall grass enclosed them almost threatening to swallow them whole. "Why did you stop?" Louise asked irritably, swatting away a blade of grass that dared to trace her face. She glanced over to Siesta, not surprised the maid was unconcerned by the situation they found themselves in.

" **We calculate this is the optimal location for a base"**

"Well?" Louise drawled.

" **Clear the area"**

The thrum of machinery and metal grinding beneath her familiar began to increase. Louise felt the steady rise of vibration travelling through her feet. Something inside of her screamed for her to get off the MCV and so she did.

The Valliere hopped off the platform, her feet landing with an audible squelch. She looked back and saw the maid was confused why she had jumped off, but Siesta appeared to receive the hint as she too lowered herself on the ground, her dress making it too difficult for her to jump.

Louise ushered the maid to follow her which she gladly did. She didn't know why they were running from her familiar but something told her it was best they made distance. Navigating through the field was arduous for the mage, as her short skirt meant the grass actually felt like blades against her milky white skin and she was sure she'd need to scrub her shoes from the stuck dirt.

Satisfied that she was far enough—atleast that's what she told herself—she stopped and let out a deep breath. The maid handed her a handkerchief, she accepted the handkerchief muttering a silent thanks and swabbed her forehead gently.

"Whats taking it so long?" She grumbled, tiptoeing to get a better view of her familiar to no avail.

Louise heard a sound coming from behind her, sounding suspiciously like a muffled laugh.

She glanced back, her face contorting automatically into a scowl. Siesta was laughing into her hand, noticing the look Louise was sending her she struggled to control her giggle.

"Why are you doing this, maid?" Louise asked, her eyes narrowed. "Why are you risking your career for the mad ramblings of a familiar to a failed mage?"

That seemed to subdue the maid, she clasped her hands infront of her. "I'm not risking very much, milady" The maid said quietly "I am a mere commoner, you're the one who has everything to lose if anyone caught on to our actions"

"That does not answer the question"

The maid sighed "Apologies, prophet" She cleared her throat "I still have doubts. Of you, of this whole thing" Louise noticed the maid's hand had moved to her neck, fiddling with something "But if my grandfather's stories are true and you are the one to lead the common people into an age of unseen prosperity. I'd risk my career—my life—if it makes a difference."

Louise mulled over the maid's words, she still had doubts. That was understandable. Louise herself still hadn't believe anything her familiar had said but she was starting to. Pieces were starting to come together that was for sure. "But what's wrong with how things are going today?" She asked

"The queen is ill, a revolution is starting in Albion and the church is condemning people to death over petty beliefs!"

She had a point there, Louise thought.

"And what makes you think I'm the person who can make a difference? A week ago, you'd think me nothing but another snobbish noble!" Louise reigned her feelings in, but her jaw was clenched.

"Because you are the prophet." Came the answer, resoluteness in its tone.

"That's comforting" Louise grumbled.

"This should help too" The maid spoke again, Louise raised her head and her eyes widened. The maid was holding up a necklace, it was held together by a simple black thread but what captivated her was the peculiar chamfered triangle pendant, inside was a curved black scorpion tail.

"How did you get that?" She blurted.

"My grandfather passed it on to me" Siesta replied, fingers playing with the pendant.

"The heretic?" Louise blurted without thinking.

"He's not the only heretic now isn't he?" The maid answered with a titter.

Louise shook her head, the maid was becoming bolder with her new-found belief despite her earlier doubts. The Valliere pinched the bridge of her nose, a smile crept her features. What had she done to deserve this?

The ground suddenly rumbled, Louise swore she could feel the the earth splitting beneath her. She widened her arms as she struggled to stay balanced. Louise saw Siesta having lesser luck with staying upright, she caught the maid as she was about to fall.

When Siesta had found her balance, Louise whirled around to see how her familiar was faring. An earthquake in Tristania was unheard of, but she had an inkling that 424 had a hand in the sudden tremor.

And she was right—just above the edges of the tall grass obscuring her view, she could see something far off in the distance, moving, shifting. Where there had been nothing but grass, a large shell like structure erected, she could still hear the sound of heavy metal moving. As seconds pass, what visible parts of the structure she could see was coming together, like it was extending from one source.

That's when it clicked.

Louise tore through the thick field like she was on fire, swatting the blades of grass aside as she advanced to the strange building with newfound endurance. She heard the maid lagging behind her, faint yelps of 'oops' reaching her ears.

When she had finally neared the building she made a double take of the peculiar structure. It was large, impressively so. Almost as large—if not larger than her family mansion. It had a wide open area, with a metal like material split in the middle by an intricately designed pinkish frame acting as the 'roof'. Hanging from the pink frame was a crane. The walls deeper inside the building was lined with metal structures, crisscrossed. Maybe some sort of support pillars, Louise mused.

She inhaled deeply and took a step, almost jumping off in surprise as her foot met something solid. Louise looked down and chastised herself for not noticing it earlier. The building had completely covered the ground effectively covering the floor with metal panels. She saw bizarre markings on some parts of the floor, ignoring them when her eyes caught the logo she had seen over the last couple of days proudly displayed in white on the floor.

She stood awkwardly in the middle of the cavernous building, openly gawking at the unfamiliar sight. The building was entirely different from anything she had seen before. Everything was made from metal. Not a sight of the exquisite marble she had grown used to and definitely no rich wood to accent the walls either. It was dull and industrial. Like a smith's workshop.

Then came a loud familiar voice, Louise could hear the smugness in it's tone **"Construction complete, new construction options"**

* * *

 **AN:** We're here , lets expand... in the next chapter! ha. sauce.

Rebelraven4: Yes there will be Nod subfactions. and all three of them will be in here. as to how I will incorporate that... well that would be telling.

King of ferrets: Yes, there will be tiberium injections, I havent thought about it. I probably wont include mods in this however.

Apologies for the late chap. College has started and chapters will be rolling out slowly.


	5. Chapter 5 :Home is where the Tiberium is

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own C&C and Familiar of Zero

* * *

Chapter 5 : Home is where the Tiberium is.

* * *

" **Prophet."** Unit 424 repeated, after a full minute Louise had frozen to the spot.

"I think you broke her, unit 424." Louise heard Siesta say from behind her, the sound of grass rustling came later. "Wow! I can see why!" The maid chirped in her annoyingly happy voice. The sound of footsteps meeting the cold metal floor resounded, the footsteps were light and jubilant. Almost like they were dancing. They probably were.

"Why didn't you do this earlier!?" Louise growled, she was peeved and proud at the same time. Her familiar was a building!

Wait.

"What use are you a building?" Louise mumbled, her senses coming back to her and she resumed walking. The sound of another pair of feet indicated that the maid was following her.

"It _is_ a big building, Miss Valliere." Siesta pointed out.

"That's not the point" Her voice echoed through the vast empty space. Only those metal pillars decorated the sides of the black walls. There were a few metal crates with the scorpion emblem on its sides, they appeared to be placed hastily on the floor.

" **A basic human necessity: Shelter, prophet."** Came the answer from the corners of the expansive room.

They went even farther inside, the shade provided by the curved roof was certainly welcome. Moments later they reached the point where the sun couldn't illuminate their path and Louise swore under her breath for being such a useless mage. A simple lighting spell would've made it easier to see what lay inside her familiar. Not that there was anything interesting inside of it. Louise made out rows and rows of what she surmised were tall empty metal racks on both sides.

424 must've seen the difficulty they had walking in the blind because Louise had to open her eyes wide just to feed them with as much as light as possible the moment before, now she was shutting them tight and bringing her palms to cover her eyes from the sudden blast of white light. She stumbled a few steps and her back met a soft barrier.

It must've been pretty soft because it fell down with her.

"Eep!" Siesta yelped, that's when Louise knew it wasn't a barrier. Once the stinging in her eyes had resided, she willed her eyes open. The first thing she saw was the black shell-like ceiling. Next was the multiple bright white lights, arranged neatly inside the ceiling itself. Now that she could see clearly, the metal racks were actually higher than she'd thought. It was as if they were looking down on her.

Louise disentangled herself from Siesta and helped herself up much to the dismay of Siesta who had her hand out. Expecting Louise to help her. The mage didn't spare a glance, not that it was Louise's fault. As soon as she had gotten up her eyes were scanning the room.

True, it was empty. But there was a lot of space. Like the shipping warehouses that dotted the edges of the coastline of the small towns and fishing villages in Tristain. Curious, Louise looked up and asked "What if animals or bandits get in?" She paused "Or orcs" She frowned. She was not a fan of those creatures. Barbaric and uncultured, they raided convoys and looted whatever they could from the trade routes. One of the reasons why trade convoys had a large escort nowadays.

" **Our base is in it's infancy, we cannot repel attacks from determined intruders."** That answer only increased Louise's worry. How was she going to defend her familiar? Her explosions? She'd run the building into the ground if that happens. Louise glanced at the maid and immediately shook her head at the incoming thought.

' _Nope'_

" **However, There is a blast door constructed to prevent the intruders from entering the construction yard."**

That eased her mind, though she didn't know what a blast door meant. Or was her familiar mocking her explosive tendencies? "Blast door?" She asked, her brow curved.

" **A blast proof door capable of withstanding impressive amounts of damage."** 424 explained.

Louise nodded and resumed walking, Siesta followed faithfully instep beside her with her hands clasped at her front. Louise thought she would look like her mother that moment, Karin heavy wind with her beautiful luxurious pink hair flowing beside her cheeks like twin waterfalls down to her chest. Face set in stone, brimming with confidence. Gait like a predator inching towards its prey and a band of battle-proven veterans surrounding her.

Not like she needed them, she could take anyone she chooses. But there was no such thing as overkill in war.

The only difference with how the picture was painted was she was only Louise. Louise le Blanc de La Valliere, the third daughter of the Vallieres. And the most useless mage ever to grace Brimir's green Halkeginia. She wasn't Karin heavy wind, she wasn't the smart and fierce Eleonore and neither was she the kind and caring Cattleya.

She stopped and took a deep breath. On the corner of her eyes she noticed the maid was gazing at her. Louise raised a hand to dismiss any worries the maid had and resumed walking.

A full minute later, there had been no difference. It was the same sight the farther they went. Louise didn't know how far the building stretched, but it felt like forever and her calves were starting to ache. There were however small carriages, painted in black but had only one seat. With fork like contraptions built into its front. They were parked haphazardly along the aisles of those metal racks. "What are those?" She caught herself asking, pointing at one of the black carriages. Siesta gaze landed to where she was pointing.

" **They are akin to carts, they are used to arrange crates and various goods."** Her familiar answered.

"How do they move? Where are the horses?" Siesta was rubbing her chin. Louise approved of her question. It was a good one if she was honest. She couldn't make out how those contraptions worked without anything to push them.

There was a pregnant pause, for a moment Louise thought 424 had ignored Siesta before it answered **"Magic."**

That elicited a satisfied hum from the maid. The more educated of the two women however, wasn't content with the reply but decided to let it slide in favour of her aching calves which needed to be soothed.

"Does this go on forever? Is this all there is to see?" She swooped her arm in an arc around the room, almost angrily, unsatisfied. She did just saw her familiar turn into a brimir damned building. An empty building!

" **Turn right on aisle 71."** 424 spoke, in its usual monotone.

"Which one is 71?" The Valliere asked, her eyes scanning the sides of the metal racks to see if there were numbers on them. There were, she was on aisle 60. Louise let out a deep sigh.

"I can carry you if you want, Miss Valliere" The maid offered from beside her, Louise looked over her shoulder, the maid had her usual smile plastered across her face. Why did she have to be so annoyingly cheerful all the time was beyond her.

"No…" The maid's expression dropped for a moment, just a moment but Louise caught it before the smile was on her face again "No, thank you" Louise added with a sigh, Siesta's smile was more earnest then.

They took a right when they've finally reached 71, Louise had noticed how the air inside of the structure seemed to be cooler, almost like the cold winds of winter albeit more gentle and held an odd smell. She supposed it was better than the outside heat and the wild grass. The duo reached a door at the end of the aisle. On the right side of it, a small rectangular shape was embedded into the wall.

" **Place your hand into the scanner, prophet."**

Brow curved curiously, Louise acquiesced albeit tentatively. She assumed the 'scanner' her familiar meant was the rectangular device. Probably an opening mechanism since she couldn't see a knob or a handle to open the door. As she placed her hand, a beam of red light bathed her hand, it scanned from the top of her fingers to the bottom of her palm. Finishing the odd ritual with a ping. Her name and _title_ flashed on the scanner.

The door swooshed open, not unlike the usual doors she had seen, where she either pushed them or pull them. Or sometimes slid them to the side. No, they actually slid _upwards_ with a hiss, white wisps of vapour accompanying. She walked through, the maid followed. Another hiss and the door was closed.

"That was… " The maid trailed "Fancy."

Louise just shrugged, it certainly was. But she wouldn't admit it infront of a commoner. The corridor was wide and lit decently. The sides of the path had red glows and the distant hum of 424's heart or whatever golem equivalent of a heart resounded faintly in the background. Surprisingly it was relaxing, it made the gloom black and red motif more appealing. As if the slow thrumming and the dark hues represented the situation she found herself now: Planning and plotting for a big reveal from a secluded hideout. And then, she'd strike when everyone least expects! She'd revel watching their horrified expressions as Louise the failed mage takes the world by storm!

She felt an evil cackle coming and she quickly shook away her thoughts, a slight smirk on her face. Entertaining as they were, she wasn't planning and plotting anything. Not until she heard what her familiar had to say.

As they progressed further, Louise had noted a few more doors, though wider and had a triangular shape. Her familiar urged them on however and Louise didn't argue. Her calves were really starting to ache. The path began to diverge and split. It felt like a labyrinth—a labyrinth of cold metal and dreary colors, fortunately 424 was guiding them through.

They reached a set of double doors, Louise pressed her palm against the scanner and the doors slid open. It was a small room with a light on the ceiling. Both of the women looked at each other uncertainly before Louise shrugged. She stepped into the small room first followed by the maid.

The doors closed, and Louise found the room eerily quiet with only their breathing giving away sound. Louise noticed there were buttons arranged on a panel beside the door with a small display.

" **2, Prophet."** 424's voice came from inside the room, Louise looked up at a corner and saw a small globe sitting on the ceiling.

"What?"

" **The buttons on the panel, press the number 2."** It explained, Louise found the button shortly. Giving it a slight press. It lit up and they began ascending, she felt herself being pulled upwards. Or the room was.

The room was moving.

Louise glanced at Siesta only to find the maid already looking at her. "Magic… ?" Siesta whispered. The Valliere only nodded slightly unsure whether that was true or not

The room stopped moving with a resounding ding and the doors slid open again, accompanied by the hiss of vapour. They stepped out to a wide room with desks with glowing red buttons and dials arranged facing a wide angular window overlooking the entire storage area. Taking up a large chunk of space in the mid-section of the room was a black round table.

The two broke off, Louise went over to the angular window and Siesta was examining the desks with the odd dials with her hands still clasped not daring to touch anything.

Now she had an overview of the storage area, she could tell how expansive it was. It probably easily reached to about a hundred aisles. With the abandoned black carriages dotted in between and few stacks of crates in the corners. She imagined what it would've looked like when there were people actually tending to the storage area. Mulling about and operating the carriages. The hustle and bustle of metal being lifted and commands being barked by a less than pleasant supervisor.

Louise clasped her hands behind her back, her gaze slowly swept the storage area.

Yes, it would be glorious. She'd have something to call her own. An accomplishment she could finally be proud of. Forget casting spells, forget the feud with Zerbsts, forget everything she was taught and relish in the gift bestowed upon her by… by that man, the man that appeared in her dream.

She was sure he was the cause for the sudden turn her life had taken. It felt right to pin all the blame on him.

" **Prophet."** 424 boomed behind her, she pivoted on her heel. Hands still clasped behind her.

Her eyes widened as she saw a man's head, floating above the black table in all his crimson _splendor_. If he wasn't a bodiless, Louise would've considered him to be handsome—she still did. His cheekbones were pronounced and his eyes were sharp. Brows furrowed and he had a full head of hair combed to the side. His lips were set in a thin line.

"Wha… 424…?" She dumbly muttered, her hands fell to her sides. Siesta was across the table, looking as shocked as she was.

" **Affirmative, though it is merely a visual representation. I have no solid appearance aside from the MCV I currently occupy."** 424 answered quickly, Louise nodded, biting her lip and coming closer to the table. Her gaze didn't break with 424's.

"You have a _lot_ of explaining to do familiar!" She yelled, her cheeks flushed. And she finally broke eye contact. Her familiar's unyielding gaze was too much for her.

The bodiless form of 424 nodded. Then came the sound of metal flipping and sliding. She whirled around and to her relief it was a chair. A simple charcoal black chair accented with red lines planted to the floor. It didn't appear comfortable and made for nobles. But she took a seat anyways.

And she immediately withdrew her earlier opinion. Despite its deceptively utilitarian appearance it was comfortable. It felt like she was being soaked into the chair itself. Letting a deep sigh escape her, she scooted deeper into the seat. Her legs twitched, she suppressed the urge to kick her feet up on the table.

Louise heard Siesta yelp as the maid's chair slid. Circling the table and coming to a halt inches beside Louise. The Valliere glared lightly at the maid to which she responded with a meek smile.

" **It is best that you are comfortable for the lengthy explanation that is to come."**

Louise bit the inside of her cheek, her palms gripping the handles of the chair lightly. She was finally going to receive the answer for all of this. She glanced at Siesta and saw the maid as eager as her, her hand clutching the pendant. Louise turned back to 424's avatar and nodded.

Thus, minor tactical A.I. unit 424 began to recite the glorious teachings of Nod and it's previous prophet, Kane.

* * *

Louise slumped into her chair, her head was spinning from the information overload. Siesta had long given up trying to understand the words being spewed by her familiar. But the noble wasn't so easily deterred. When her familiar had started to explain in depth regarding the brotherhood of Nod, she'd query when things got a little too confusing and her familiar would answer in terms she'd understand. Brimir—Kane—Brimir! She didn't know anymore! But bless the creature that was her familiar. It was understanding, for an artificial construct.

Despite the fatigue that had engulfed her mind, her eyes were open wider than ever—figuratively speaking for she was gently massaging her eyelids—Technology that was beyond what was thought capable! And the knowledge was entirely at her fingertips.

' _Knowledge is power.'_ Her mother used to say.

And that power belonged to her, nay, to the brotherhood! For four hours they sat in the chairs rooted to the spot. But she didn't feel numb, not when her familiar retold the stories of the prophet before her, Kane was his name, the bald man from her dream. He was real and he was charismatic as ever. She felt herself being reeled in by his speeches that 424 had showed her.

The man was great, inspiring and cared for his people when no other did. Not one lifted a finger for the common people when the tiberium mineral riddled the 'earth', the so called nobles of their world had pooled their own resources and fled to safe havens amongst their own peers, leaving the people behind to fend for themselves.

Hints of the same events happening in Tristania began to surface, the nobles were becoming cowards and—with a hint of shame on her part—shoved the people aside as if the people were nothing.

Louise saw herself above the commoners, but she didn't doubt their usefulness to Tristania as a whole. They were cogs and gears within a machine and the captains were the nobles, steering them to the right path.

But when her familiar had reached the 'third tiberium war', she had begun to shake slightly and cold sweat ran down the sides of her face in rivulets.

 _The Scrin_

The creatures that plagued her nightmare the night before. They were real too. And they were coming.

"Miss Valliere." Siesta's voice shook Louise from her nap, opening her eyes groggily she slowly sat up as she rubbed her eyes "You've fallen asleep" The maid remarked, hovering over the noble.

"I'm tired, Commo—Siesta" She corrected, it wouldn't do for her to dismiss the people easily anymore.

The maid looked surprised for a moment but quickly collected herself "Well it is getting late and the academy would wonder about my whereabouts, I must go, what about you?"

" **It would be beneficial if the prophet stays."** 424 cut in. Louise raised a brow.

" **Siesta of Tarbes, you will return to Tristain Academy and report to your** _ **superiors."**_ Both of the women had turned to face 424's avatar, his emphasis on 'superiors' made Louise wince. Siesta only smiled deviously, almost knowingly.

"What shall I report?" The maid asked, her head bowed.

" **The prophet has abandoned them due to her lack of magical talent and a disobedient familiar. You have only followed to sway her but only met disappointment."** It answered swiftly, Louise knew he—it was a machine, a non-organic creature but it was unbelievable how it could process something so quickly.

"Is that all?"

" **Do not leak the location of this installation."**

"It shall be done, Glory to Louise." The maid finished, with her fist coming to her chest. The pendant was freely displayed. Louise remained quiet throughout the whole exchange.

" **Glory to Nod."**

Louise watched as Siesta turned to walk out the door, before she got into the 'elevator' as her familiar had coined it, the maid turned around to voice another question "When shall I return?"

" **In due time"**

The maid nodded and Louise refocused her attention to her familiar's avatar. A hiss signaled the maid's exit.

"So… " She trailed dumbly.

" **Prophet, we will need to expand our operations."** It started, Louise didn't answer right away. Instead she leaned to her right and was surprised when the chair started to slowly spin.

"It…Chairs can do that?!" Her voice raised in both jubilancy and surprise. 424 only nodded and Louise began to slowly test the waters by slowly spinning the chair.

A minute later she was swiveling left to right, giggling happily to herself with the new revelation of something so simple yet so entertaining. She stopped after a moment, facing directly 424's avatar. His face set like stone.

"What did you say?" She asked bashfully, finally noticing that 424 had been watching her acting so childishly for the past minute. She suppressed the urge to rub a palm over her face for her blatant stupidity.

" **There is no need to be ashamed, prophet."** 424 reassured **"The brotherhood does not discriminate against their own."** Louise only nodded as she rubbed the back of her neck. **"As I've said, we will need to expand our operations."**

"How?" She leaned forward and her chair moved nearer to the table. She recollected herself from the sudden movement and propped her elbows on the edges, her fingers coming together and her chin resting on them. Her gaze rested on the sleek black material of the table.

And all of the sudden the table lit up and 424's avatar dissipated.

Deep red lights danced like electricity across the table, Louise immediately retracted herself from the display of erratic lights. She finally made out shapes as the fluctuations began to decrease. Louise identified the big red structure as the 'construction yard' she was currently in and the rest were the surroundings. The vast fields of tall wild grass and trees lining the edges of the display perfectly replicated in red. Her eyes were tracking a small floating triangular shape moving away from the structure.

Louise tentatively resumed her previous position, her gaze flickering across the table sporadically.

" **An overview of our surroundings prophet, it will provide us with a better vantage point to expand our base."**

"Okay, so how do we _expand_?" She drawled.

" **Firstly, it would benefit us in the long-term if we could seed tiberium. We have a generous amount of the mineral in storage however they would not last."**

"Isn't this tiberium dangerous? How will we contain it?" Her eyes darted towards 424's new smaller avatar flickering to life, hovering just above the projection of the construction yard.

" **It is."** It remarked **"However, it may be possible to contain a small field of tiberium via a miniature tiberium control network."**

Her head was starting to hurt again but she fought it.

"May?" She asked skeptically.

" **It has not been tested before, Kane has only designed a prototype. It may take some time for us to go through the data once more to make sure it is fool-proof."** It paused **"Prerequisite buildings are needed before the design is fully available to us."**

"The—uhh—" Louise trailed, trying to recall the Nod structures her familiar had briefed her before. "A power plant?"

" **Affirmative, one of the basic buildings."** 424 affirmed. The holographic display dissipated to form a new one, a circular shaped building with what she guessed was a tall smoke stack poking from its side. Emblazoned on its rear was the Nod logo. The circular object protected by a layer of metal reminded her of a water mill.

"It stands out." She pointed out, now she said it, the whole damned base stood out.

" **The trees on the outer edges will provide a natural visual barrier."**

Louise stared at the spinning holographic image of the power plant, biting her lip she asked again "What about the smoke emissions from the power plant?"

" **Advanced filtrations systems will be installed, prophet."** Louise nodded in satisfaction. But she had another question.

"We're exposed to aerial reconnaissance" She remarked, she waved her hand to gesture at the air above the base.

" **We have accounted for that."** It said, Louise waited for it to continue only to find it didn't. Louise rolled her shoulders and casted an expectant glance.

"And?"

" **A disruption tower."**

"The building that makes us invisible?" Louise raised herself halfway up from the chair by the handles. "Then why do we need the natural barrier if we could build something like that in the first place?"

" **It takes time, prophet."** Came the reasonable reply. Everything was logical and reasonable with the A.I.

"Okay" She plopped herself down in the chair once more. Everything was thought out by her familiar, she wasn't sure what she'd do without him. She wasn't sure why _she_ was leading the whole thing instead of 424.

" **In the meantime however, it would be prudent if we did not arouse any suspicions."**

"Me, A Valliere running away from the academy qualifies as suspicious, familiar" She quipped, slumping back into her chair, it bended slightly. "This chair is nice." She whispered, Louise kicked her feet up the table. Her hands going to the back of her head. She let out a tired yawn.

" **Better to have them believe you fled on your own accord, lesser search parties."**

"My belongings are still in my room though" She replied with a frown. Her gold, her clothes and simply said every possession she treasured was in her room, the lesser prized ones were left at the Valliere mansion. She shifted in her seat, the thought of her belongings left so carelessly itching on the back of her mind.

" **Siesta of Tarbes will see to them."** 424 assured her, she relaxed somewhat. Hopefully no one would touch any of her stuff. That was as good as she could get, besides she couldn't sneak in the academy. Not anymore, Headmaster Osmond would definitely reprimand her for her little escapade.

" **Where shall the power plant be placed?"** Her familiar's voice boomed after a minute of deafening silence.

"H-huh?" Louise caught herself dozing off again, she blinked hard a few times. She sat up straight, looking at the display. "O-oh, well" her eyes scanned the bird's eye view display of the immediate area and her sleep addled mind went into overdrive. Does the location affect the power output? Will it be more visible if she placed it next to the trees? What if the filtration systems didn't filter the smell of the smoke? What if she placed it on uneven ground? Will it collapse? Or does 424 compensate and build an even foundation?

Biting her lip to suppress a frustrated groan, her eyes darted to the rear of the construction yard. Yes, that was an optimal location, it would align with the yard. It was neat and close, she didn't need to walk far if she ever had to go there.

"Familiar, can you align the power plant behind the yard? I want to see how it looks." She ordered, then the display flickered, revealing the power plant behind the yard separated by a few inches. Translating to a few metres in real time if she converted it properly.

Yes, definitely. She nodded in affirmation. "Place it there."

" **I will inform you once the building is complete. For now, you can rest, prophet."** at the mention of rest, she yawned. Maybe her familiar was on to something. She stood up slowly, damnable chair was too comfortable for her own good. She walked to the elevator with, her steps heavy. When she finally got inside however did she finally realize that she didn't know where she was going.

"Familiar" She asked, looking up to the 'camera'.

"What floor?"

* * *

Louise stretched on her queen sized bed, the red and black silk sheets shifting underneath her. She wasn't surprised with the colors. She had grown used to it, she supposed. 424 had led her to the biggest room they currently had and was pleasantly surprised when she found out the room was located in the pinkish glass construct. It wasn't actually glass as her familiar had explained, but somesort of harmless tiberium.

The floor was as black as night and as spotless as the ones in her family's mansion. The sides of her room was the same, her bed was facing a massive curved window overlooking the front yard. It felt homey and right. She rolled on her back and propped herself up with her elbows, gazing beyond the wide window.

The wild blades of grass swaying ever so gently against the spring breeze, it was beautiful. Though it would take a million years for her to trudge through that hell again.

Louise lowered herself, sighing in pleasure. The mattress was heavenly as was the 'shower' she had taken. Though she was used to a tub of warm water, bathing while standing was something new to the noble but not unwelcome. Infact it was easier, with a twist of a knob warm water cascaded on her like heavy rain. Washing away sweat, grime and dirt—and also worries.

She had exchanged for a lighter set of clothes, a black top followed by black short shorts. She had argued how they were men's clothing with her familiar but it firmly stated how it was the only sleep wear available. Her old clothes discarded into a laundry chute.

The Valliere slowly closed her eyelids, a cacophony of sounds invaded her ears. From the metallic hum of her familiar's tiberium core to the soft gusts of the air-conditioning coming in from the vents. After a minute of listening to them, the cacophony turned into a symphony. A lullaby being hummed as she felt her mind being tugged into unconsciousness.

She was home.

* * *

 **AN:** I know its going slow, we're not going into any action as of yet. But be patient. She is undermanned and outgunned. Louise will need her wits about her and also cunning. (God I dont know why my sentence structures seem to crumble when Im not writing the fic)

but rest assured, the chapters will still roll out and I will not abandon it anytime soon. So take it slow eh?

Next chapter will have Louise recruiting and more base building, explanation from Kane and also spy stuff from Siesta perhaps. Do you guys agree with Siesta being on board?

I find alot of you dislike canon Siesta in FoZ. So i changed her abit to suit...Louise's needs.

 **Guests asking about tiberium:** Yes, it will be seeded similar to foundation must be true by tankred. Though we're a far way off. Tech must be researched. and yes they have a cache of 25000 tiberium. -500 for the power plant being constructed.

 **Danget:** I dont know which pun youre referring to though but i appreciate your review nonetheless! :)

Glory to Nod, my brothers!


	6. Chapter 6 : We Fight For Nod!

**I do not own neither C &C nor Familiar of Zero.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6 : We fight for Nod!**

Louise was already at the entrance of the yard at the break of dawn, she was kneeling as she struggled to clasp the new boots her familiar had picked out for her. Cursing under her breath as the stubborn footwear finally gave an audible click. Louise straightened, exhaling softly as she patted down her fitted black clothes. It felt snug against her small stature, the extra added protection felt welcome and despite the extra layers of clothes plus the armor it felt no heavier than carrying a stack of books.

She did however decline wearing the ominous helmet with the red glowing T-shaped visor. That felt too much. It also didn't appear to be made for a diminutive girl with thick pink hair so she left it on the shelf of her wardrobe.

"Familiar," She said, voice echoing against the cavernous space. "Open the blast door."

The sudden sound of a high pitched whine made Louise jump. At the top corners of the room, red lights danced across the surface. The gigantic door hissed and began to slowly plunge into the ground.

Louise huffed, biting down the excitement. When the door had disappeared fully into the earth, she was greeted by the dark, apparently the sun hadn't risen enough. The cold night wind rushed into the yard, Louise stepped out, unbothered by the night gale, her hair trailing behind her. The sun was slowly rising from the horizon, she could see the faint orange glow creeping along the ground and bouncing from the trees in the forest

The Valliere braced herself as she began circling the building to reach the newly built power plant. The trip through the wild grass was more bearable with her new clothes, though she was having second thoughts about not taking the helmet as the blades of grass still manage to bat into her face.

' _The holo-display thing did not do this 'basic building' justice'_ was her thought when she reached the powerplant, she was staring up at the circular shaped construct with awe. She could make out something gyrating inside the red structure, glowing with each reverberating thrum.

"Should I enter?" She whispered. Her eyes wandering on the structure, searching for an entry point.

" **Inadvisable, prophet. Entering would require a specific set of clothing designed to withstand the tiberium radiation present inside."** 424 replied through the small device she had outfitted into the lobe of her ear.

"Huh, alright." She said. It appeared her curiosity would have to be sated another day. "So, what's next?" She asked, turning around to look at the expansive field of grass.

" **With the newly constructed power plant, more building options are available."** The tactical A.I. said. Louise was now leaning against the black metal structure of the power plant, arms crossed over her chest. Biting the edges of her lip. It felt weird to have a loud commanding voice almost whispering into her ear. How can something be both loud and silent at the same time?

"Which ones is it?" Louise queried.

" **The tiberium refinery, the hand of nod and the crane"**

Her grin faded, her lips pursed as she began stroking her chin thoughtfully. Despite her calm exterior, she was basically screaming in excitement inside. She just built a building out of practically nothing! And not just any building either, a building made from possibly the strongest element and capable of supplying power. Though the concept of power still eluded her. But she was catching on, it was a matter of time.

Louise asked her familiar to brief her once more on the available buildings. Now that her mind was fresh, she focused solely on the deep voice on the other end. Taking mental notes on the buildings and juggling the decision of which one she should build first.

When her familiar ceased, she hummed. Her mind made up. "The hand of Nod," She said. "That one." She affirmed. The logic that drove her to pick the building was she needed arms capable of wielding a sword or a musket. Whatever passed as weapons for the Brotherhood.

" **Building… "**

"How long will it take?" She asked, already making way back to the yard.

" **Approximately five hours"**

She should think up of something to do for the duration of time. But what? When her foot met the solid metal panel of the yard she pulled herself out from the field. Stepping fully on the platform and turning to gaze at the forest and beyond.

"You said the hand of Nod trains our infantry?" Louise asked.

" **Affirmative"**

"Infantry as in living breathing able bodied men or women," She drawled slowly. Hopefully the intelligence bit in 'Artificial intelligence' registered the sarcasm she was about to put in.

" **They do not need to be** _ **alive,**_ **"** 424 interjected.

A shiver ran down her spine, that only meant to appall the young Valliere. "That's blasphemy!" She screeched into her earpiece.

" **Apologies, prophet."** It said in monotone, not a shred of remorse. **"They do not need to be strictly alive."** 424 rephrased, Louise allowed herself to relax a little. **"As long as they are not brain dead, the marked of Kane shall bring a new purpose to their bodies."**

"Resurrect them like a necromancer you mean?" She sneered.

" **Negative, according to our available data; a necromancer uses dark energy to bring corpses back to life,"** It countered. **"The Marked of Kane uses advanced cybernetics and tiberium and implant them into severely injured Brotherhood personnel so that they may further their service to Kane."**

Louise was still disgusted with the idea. It was appalling enough to resurrect corpses like a necromancer despite what her familiar had explained, but the notion of maiming someone to the brink of death was almost—if not more—horrific than the former.

She brought a palm to her face, sighing softly. "Let's explore other options first." _And never consider this one. Ever._

" **Very well, prophet."** It said. **"However, the option is always available.** "Louise nodded, mentally pushing the very idea at the back of her mind.

"What about the commoners? They should be quick to rally to our cause," She suggested. The G.D.I. of Earth were akin to nobles in a sense, whilst the Nod consisted of mostly low classed civilians.

" **We have assigned Siesta of Tarbes to spread the influence of Nod."** It responded. Always one step ahead of Louise. She clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Well, I can't just leave everything to both of you can I? I need to do something as well" She huffed.

" **True."** 424 admitted, **"Return to operations, Prophet, we may have something that could occupy your time."**

 _It'd better be good_ , Louise thought irritably. She pushed herself off of the wall and begun walking back inside of the yard. The spacious building felt emptier now that Siesta wasn't here with her. She followed the same route that her familiar had drilled her the first time, though she had taken a _few_ wrong turns along the way.

She made it back to operations in fifteen minutes, the bodiless apparition of her familiar hovering above the wide marble-like table greeting her as she entered. She shot 424 an annoyed glare. She took her seat, and pulled herself closer to the table

"What do you have for me?" She asked, resting her cheek against her propped hand. She tried hiding the eagerness in her tone with a bored and indifferent look.

At that moment, the surface of the table beneath her tapping finger started glowing in a dim pink, multiple small square shapes materialized in neat rows. Inscribed inside the shapes were characters of the Tristainian alphabet.

"What's this?" She asked, pulling away slowly, Louise straightened herself as she eyed the glowing table.

" **It is a console, simply input your desired subject and the search engine will locate the topic and present it to you."** It explained, the Valliere's hands had moved to hover across the keys, her brows arching in curiosity. **"If you require any further assistance, contact me, Prophet."**

"Where are you going?" She asked.

" **We will still be here,"** 424 answered reassuringly, as if cooing a child, to Louise's irritation. **"However, the construction of the Hand of Nod requires my direct supervision, the** _ **dumb**_ **programs cannot make the necessary alterations to the blueprints."**

424's avatar faded, leaving a clueless Louise in her seat alone. Carefully, she started tapping into the 'console'.

* * *

"Louise." A voice called out a sleeping Louise, "Wake up child."

"Munyamunya…"

The bald man sighed, an earnest smile crept his features despite himself. He took a seat on a lavish couch just across a similar one which had a sleeping Louise. Absently, the man began tracing an index finger on the armrest as he observed the child;

Kane drew his eyes away. Undoubtedly, the girl was exhausted by the events that led her here. It had only been a day or two since the girl's ascension as the prophet and she was already doing well. Whilst Kane did have a hand in helping her, i.e. his MCV which housed technologies from Earth when she should have been cultivating her own tech, Louise had the determination to see this uprising through and hopefully crush whatever resistance these 'mages' could muster.

Kane smirked, _mages_. These people were probably mentally superior, much like Yuri, which would explain their ability to conjure elements at their will. Nothing was beyond the grasp of science; and much like Yuri, Kane would see that these 'mentally superior' race are swiftly dealt with.

"Ngghh…" Kane was shaken from his observation as Louise stirred in her sleep. "Where…?"

"We meet again, Louise." Kane announced, making his presence known. Louise looked at him, her eyes widened momentarily before registering who it was, she shifted in her seat. Still clad in the second tiberium war uniform.

"Prophet Kane?" She murmured, wiping the edges of her eyes.

Kane waved his hand at Louise dismissively, "Call me Kane, please. There is no need for ranks between us prophets."

"Kane," she corrected with a slight pink tint, then her whole expression seemed to darken as she remembered what she had been reading on beforehand. "The Marked of Kane…" She stated cautiously, trying to gauge Kane's reaction. To the man's credit however, he did not elicit any negative response, instead he raised his hand and opened his palm. A cup appeared and he took a sip. He watched as Louise struggled to keep her temper in check, her eyebrows were visibly quaking. "Why did you allow them to fight for you?"

He knew she'd ask about the less than preferable tactics the Brotherhood employed, Kane did not blame her. She was still a green. Unfamiliar with the reality of war; it was gruesome and merciless. Sometimes Kane thought the only way to win a war was to break as much moral rules you could.

Kane took a deep breath, "I can imagine the horrors you've witnessed whilst going through the data banks, Louise."

Louise remained silent, only nodding slightly in agreement. The images she saw just before she fell asleep playing in the corner of her vision: monstrous humanoid beings marching in rhythm across a desert expanse, their pale skin contrasting with the golden sand, parts of their bodies replaced with the same black metal as her familiar; Louise barely made out the thick cords snaking beneath their epidermis, bulging as if it were another fascicle.

"It had to be done, Louise." Kane said, their eyes met and Louise saw the honesty in them, those eyes, filled with burden and tempered by the fires of fierce resolution. He wasn't lying, but he wasn't sorry either. "Being a leader meant I had to make sacrifices; sacrifices that no one else was willing to make." The man chuckled humorlessly, more than once Louise understood what the man was saying, the young noble always noticed how her mother's shoulders would slump when she thought nobody was watching, the little things that gave her away; exposing the vulnerable woman underneath.

"But resurrecting the dead…" She said weakly, "Surely there's a line…?"

"I take it the A.I. has explained?" Kane queried calmly, she nodded. "They aren't dead…" He paused, "Yet." Louise felt a lump stuck in her throat. "The marked of Kane are loyal men and women, Louise, they are the best and the brightest, suffering from the wounds inflicted by the G.D.I. blasphemers."

"The brotherhood is giving them a chance to do right. To fight again in the name of Nod, would you deny them that right, Louise? To deny them the right to fight again?" Kane's voice rose slightly.

Louise shook her head slowly and sighed, Kane understood the dilemma the young mage faced, to have her codes and morals questioned. "I understand, Child. But you must make these kinds of sacrifices so that others may live a normal life,"

 _To make a sacrifice so that others may live a normal life._ It sounded like the ultimate sacrifice, something that no one would understand.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Kane cleared his throat, Louise refocused her attention to the man across her, "We'll talk more about the matter later, if you so desire; for now how is your base of operations coming along?" He asked in an attempt to lighten the mood

It worked.

"It's magnificent!" She exclaimed eagerly, "We've completed the power plant and the Hand of Nod is next." She said and before Kane could say anything she fired a volley of questions, "How can it build from nothing? Does it use some sort of earth magic?"

Kane's lips curled at the sight of girl's excitement, "It's good seeing you so excited though it isn't _'magic'_ ," He told Louise, "It's hard to explain, but for convenience sake yes you could call it magic, only dependant on Tiberium." He rubbed his goatee, "Speaking of which, have you figured a way to contain the crystals once you seed them?" He asked.

Louise tilted her head slightly, thinking back on the question. Yes, 424 had suggested something akin to that. "My familiar said something about a miniature tiberium network." She offered.

The older prophet rested a leg on his knee, fingers still tracing over his goatee, appearing to be in deep thought to what Louise had just said. When the man lifted his head up again, he nodded at Louise, "I haven't had the chance to refine my design yet due to…complications." Kane drawled, the way he dragged the sentence out implied it was more than just that but Louise knew better than to push it. "You'll be in a better position to make adjustments to the design, Louise. Make sure to use small doses tiberium if you're going to test it, lest you risk a tiberium outbreak."

Louise nodded in apprehension, though her understanding of the subject was patchy; she understood enough of the risks. "It would be awhile until we get there though."

Kane hoisted himself off his seat, the furniture vanishing behind him as if it wasn't here in the first place, he offered Louise an assuring smile, "Of course, until then Louise," He raised his cup, the edges of Louise's vision was starting to fade and Kane finally said, "For the Brotherhood."

She felt her lips move, repeating the same words but there was no sound.

Then there was white.

* * *

Four hours later, Louise De la Valliere woke up to a start, after her conversation with Kane. Her mind had resumed its usual program, a string of random dreams without a clear purpose or context. One of these dreams had her suddenly falling from the sky, causing her to involuntarily kick her leg and hit the backside of the table.

Louise had muttered a silent thank you to whoever made the boots she wore, the steel tips prevented her dainty toes from meeting a solid surface.

Groggily, the noble straightened herself, wiping away vestiges of sleep from her eyes. After situating herself properly, she swallowed, her throat felt dry; the room remained the same as when she left: empty, except for the assorted furniture and the faint rustling of air gusting through the unseen vents.

The noble felt something she hadn't felt in awhile; _hunger_. As if acting on cue, her stomach rumbled its protest. Louise frowned, now she thought about it she had also skipped breakfast, she guessed it was nearing lunch already.

She quickly departed from operations, but not before asking 424 where the mess hall was located. She entered the elevator, the doors closed with the sudden blasts of air that she swore she'd never get used to.

The trip down was a quick and quiet affair, she still couldn't get over the fact she was basically in a moving room; without having to chant anything.

Wonders of technology.

If the commoners from Tristian were half as capable as the commoners from Earth then maybe she wouldn't even have to be the prophet. But alas, some things can't be helped, she thought with a grin as she stepped out of the lift. Louise walked into a large open area, unlike the rooms above, the mess hall was lit decently—no greatly—she couldn't even see shadows forming on the corners of the room.

The hall itself was impressive for something that didn't exist a day ago, it was half as large as the academy's dining hall, there were three columns of tables; rows numbering in the dozens each, metal beams lined the aisles, supporting the structure above. Louise was brought out of her observation by a low growl coming from her stomach.

Spotting what she surmised was a counter, she approached with barely concealed haste. Boots met the ground in solid firm thuds, the empty room merely amplified the sound and Louise suddenly felt _lonely_.

Because one, she had never needed to personally retrieve her food. Two, every time there was food on her table, she was accompanied by the chatter of her classmates or her siblings back and forth banter. Here, there was none but the dull thrum of 424's machinery.

She blinked and shook her head, it was no time to dwell in the past. She shifted her weight, and peered into the area behind the counter: deserted. _Should've seen that coming._

Louise slid over the counter with slight difficulty, it had been awhile since she'd done anything rigorous involving her legs, except walking. _Brimir_ , _the walks_. Atleast the trousers made her stunt more manageable.

"Familiar, where do you keep the food?" She asked, thumbing her earpiece while her eyes raked the metallic cabinets and drawers as if she could see through them.

424 answered instantly, **"In the top cabinets.** "

The noble nodded to herself and stood on her toes, the cabinet door creaked open, small lights flickered to life. Inside, tan rectangular packets were arranged neatly, almost overfilling the whole cabinet.

Frowning, Louise pulled out one that didn't appear to disrupt the whole assembly. She closed the cabinet, back pedaling a few steps to examine the package.

 **M.R.E**

 _Meal Ready-to-Eat_

 _Menu 18 Lamb & Chickpea Tagine_

It sounded appetizing atleast, she skimmed over the ingredients that went into the product and once satisfied that nothing seemed out of place—except for the numberings which she couldn't make out heads or tails of—pocketed it, she moved to another set of cabinets, this one contained metallic cylinders. She picked one out after discovering they were actually drinks, _energy drinks_ to be precise.

Pleased with her findings, she seated herself at the nearest table and pulled out her meal. She couldn't stop herself from being curious, she hoped the food would be decent; the brotherhood was a paramilitary organization after all, staffed by commoners. It didn't help the fact that they were at war, which meant decent rations was not the main priority.

Contrary to Louise's belief however, the Brotherhood placed much emphasis on meals. Kane knew very well how a belly full of warm food could affect morale, thus after deliberation with R&D, Kane and his inner circle reworked their rations system: new packaged rations replaced the canned meals, it proved to be cost-effective and lightweight. Boys at the R&D took it one step further; old cook books were rummaged after decades of neglect, notes were taken and compared, Kane's inner circle merely shook their heads at their antics. After all, it wasn't everyday you'd see engineers and professors fussing over recipes.

The end result was perfection, an ideal balance.

Louise peeled the package open, immediately her nostrils were assaulted by the overwhelming aroma of sautéed lamb, sharp tang of tomatoes and earthly smell of grilled nuts. Mouth watering from the mere smell, she plucked off the plastic utensils attached to the M.R.E. and began digging into her brunch.

If the smell was enough to agitate her nose, then the taste tickled her tongue; Louise could hardly discern the amount of herbs and spices that went into the meal, the meat itself was tender and soft, but with every juicy bite she took it was clear it had enough texture.

She finished her meal in record time, her usual dining etiquette momentarily forgotten in the haze of hunger and added by the fact that the meal itself was different from anything she had pleasure of eaten before, despite the deceptive appearance of its packaging.

Louise fished out a handkerchief from her vest pocket, wiping the edges her of lips once she was done. She nodded in satisfaction, it wasn't as grand or as delicious as the usual feasts she ate during her time in the academy, it was still a cut above the average food they served in inns and pubs however.

" **Prophet, the Hand of Nod is nearing completion, we thought it best that you are made aware.** " Her familiar's deep voice buzzed into her ear.

Louise responded immediately, "I'm coming up!" She said, breaking into a brisk walk to the elevator, chucking the empty M.R.E. package into a bin. The free-time she was granted during the elevator ride was spent fiddling with the metallic cylinder, she tried examining the labels to no avail.

She arrived at operations, some semblance of colour returned to her cheeks, gait livelier. The meal had done her good. She wasn't the only one noticing the change, 424 observed the difference with interest, Kane's concern for his followers' wellbeing was founded, the A.I. made note to manufacture more M.R.E.s for later consumption. It needed to up the production anyway if they were going to see an influx of personnel in the near future.

Time away from the frontlines saw it's human staff dwindled, taken away from the machine as they were needed at the front, fighting, not processing tiberium. Thus, it's ration stores were almost depleted.

The A.I. didn't fail to also notice the unofficial Nod energy drink in her hand, from closer observation it seemed the noble had tinkered with it. The tab almost twisted from the can, and the lip had scratches, almost unseen with the naked eye, but to the optical sensors of a machine it was jutting out like G.D.I.'s M.A.R.V. on a clear day.

" **Prophet,"** 424 started, almost slowly, it processed a million ways it could invite the noble's quick temper to bear if handled incorrectly. **"Pull the tab to open the can."** It said.

Louise stopped walking entirely and did just that, it popped open, it's liquid contents overflowing. The noble held the can carefully, casting a light glare at the projection of her familiar.

"Thank you." She muttered, cheeks growing warm. She took her seat, sipping her drink occasionally. It tasted strong, gaseous if that was possible, like cheap wine, sometimes bottled too early, the fermentation process incomplete. Atleast it didn't include the aftereffects of wine. "The hand of nod is complete?" She asked, frowning slightly as she took another sip.

" **Affirmative,"** 424's avatar dissipated, the birds-eye view of the yard and its surroundings appeared, Louise placed her half-empty can on the table, near the edges of the miniature forest.

Louise examined the current layout with a critical eye, before flickering her attention to the 424's smaller avatar hanging overhead, "Any suggestions, familiar?" She asked, she hated to admit it, but she wasn't as well versed in tactics as her mother. Not that anyone could blame her, it was difficult to attain the same level as Karin Heavy Wind, but some would expect her to have a good grasp of the subject.

" **Apologies prophet, our primary assignments since our creation was that of tiberium processing. The only existing base templates we have in hand are those maximizing tiberium harvesting efficiency."** 424 spoke, voice calm. Louise chewed her lip, that was a problem.

She hummed, returning her gaze to the real-time view of the base, her eyes flickered from one spot to another, her Valliere mind ran calculations; pros and cons of each site. She clicked her tongue, Louise blinked a few times, the faint crimson afterimages had burnt themselves into her eyes.

"There." She pointed to a clearing at the opposite of the construction yard, separated by a few hundred meters. "Is this fine?"

" **It should not interfere with future projects, it is satisfactory."** It paused, **"Confirm?"**

"Yes, go ahead and proceed." She said, already up and moving towards the elevator. She resisted skipping all the way, she couldn't help but feel giddy.

* * *

Outside, the midday sun was beating down the Tristanian population into submission; though not searing like it would be on the deserts of Rhub-Al-Khali, it was still a cause of distress amongst the higher class of citizens especially the nobles who'd bear umbrellas and seek shade wherever it may be found.

Louise was safely protected under the yard's curved roof; her arms crossed, her gaze on a spot of land beyond the patches of wild grass, her nose scrunched as the smell of pine and grass hit her. The ground rumbled, Louise stood her ground; she wanted to see the process first hand, mayhap it gave her a better understanding of the engineering that went into the structures.

With the force of a small earthquake, the ground tore open, various metal constructs protruded from the ground, twisting and bending in a weird display only a die-hard aesthete would find beautiful.

The noble winced at the sound of screeching metal, seemingly having a will of their own, moving like serpents, forming solid walls with one another, then smaller metals came together blending in with its larger counterparts.

The noises died down, and Louise could see the end result: a cylindrical building laid horizontally, its open end, gaping like a dark maw pointing towards the yard. It's structure was jet-black, with some combination of Louise's signature pink, fin like structures jutted at the sides parallel to the building itself, finally a large structure oddly similar to a hand rose from the hind of the structure; palming a crystalline sphere.

" **Construction complete, new construction options."** 424 intoned, Louise padded towards the new structure, brushing away folds of grass.

"Hand of Nod," Louise muttered, gazing towards the hand, she was pretty sure it meant something deeper. The crystalline sphere representing Halkeginia as a whole, covered in tiberium under the first of Nod? Perhaps, it seemed fitting but right now, she just wanted to see what the fuss was about.

* * *

 _ **(Yesterday, Tristain Academy of Magic…)**_

Headmaster Osmond was old, it felt like years slip by like sand through his fingers; one thing was for certain: he was no longer the youthful mage he was back then. He ran his fingers through his great white beard, he thought it was great. It certainly gave an air of mysticism often associated with wise old mages. He was old as he was wise, time often did that to you, after all, no one was born wise.

The old mage reached for his pocket, intending to pull out his pipe, only to find his pocket empty, no doubt of 's making. He held back a sigh, etiquette suggested he refrained from doing so in the presence of company.

"So," Osmond cleared his throat, " , is that right?"

The girl's raven black hair swayed as she nodded, Osmond pursed his lips as he read Siesta's face like a book, she didn't even blink. Osmond had heard her full-story, so had Colbert, the only other person Osmond would trust with something so delicate. As if handling an academy full of noble children wasn't a delicate matter in itself, fate had decided to pull a fast one under his own nose, and involving a Valliere nonetheless!

This time he didn't suppress a sigh.

Professor Colbert, who stood by the table, remained silent throughout the whole exchange. Opting a neutral stance to the current debacle, though he couldn't deny the crawling apprehension gripping him. Louise had never shown any signs of distress. Well no more than usual from taunts Ms. Zerbst and the rest of the class would often throw her way, despite the Valliere's failures Colbert admired the way Louise would often bounce up again.

This time though, the Valliere decided to stay down. Colbert frowned and decided to break the silence, "Headmaster Osmond, what do you plan on doing?"

Osmond turned to regard him, "For starters, let's send out a search party; she wouldn't have gotten far, not with her cumbersome familiar." Osmond toyed with his moustache, the man wasn't lacking hair, something Colbert envied him for, "If what Ms. Siesta told us is true, then we will have to inform the Vallieres."

A shiver ran down Colbert's spine, "And once we find Ms. Valliere? You're not expecting me to drag her back here legs kicking are you?" Colbert blurted.

Osmond considered his words for a moment, "Make her see reason; a rebellious familiar is nothing new, they can be taught. That is no reason to abandon the academy altogether ," the headmaster blinked slowly. "There is something missing here, Mr. Colbert. What of her familiar? Have you found anything in your books?"

Colbert took a breath before answering, "There were no runes on Ms. Valliere's familiar." He began, "I couldn't even find anything on the creature itself!" He shook his head. "I've looked through every book we had on golems in the library and so far nothing mentioned a massive insect that could talk!"

"Continue with your research whenever you're able, Professor." The headmaster laced his fingers, appearing to be in deep thought, Siesta kept silent; both of the men present had noticed how the maid would often nod off, exhausted as it seemed from her lone trek back, her uniform was torn in a few places, Osmond only wished it was torn in the right ones. At that thought, the headmaster blushed, eyes glazed.

Colbert cleared his throat, shaking the headmaster from whatever fantasy he had sunk himself in. "You can go now, Miss Siesta." He said, the maid glanced Osmond who then nodded, she got up, curtsied and left.

Unbeknownst to Siesta however, Both men were tracking her move ever since she entered the room, silently they had observed her vocal patterns; waiting for any cracks to her story and her body to betray her words. But so far, she checked out, genuinely distressed and fatigued over the ordeal.

"Peculiar, that one." Osmond said, his eyes narrowed at the closed door.

The professor nodded, following Osmond's gaze, "She appears to be telling the truth, that or she is a good liar."

"A great one." Osmond corrected, it certainly would take a certain degree of skill to outright lie to two experienced square-class mages. "In any case, I'll have someone shadow her for sometime just to make sure, in the meantime, when will you depart?"

"Tomorrow at dawn, I'll inform the necessary teachers."

"Very well, you are dismissed, professor," He waved a hand at Colbert whom nodded. " Have my lovely assistant enter the room, please." He said as Colbert was about to exit, the door thudded shut, a moment later, Ms. Longueville slipped into the room, a stack of papers in hands; the secretary proceeded to place them on his table, Osmond swore he saw the woman smirk.

"What is _this?_ " He pointed at the offending amount of paperwork, Longueville crossed her arms below her chest.

"Paperwork, headmaster, there has been a lot of them lately," She replied without missing a beat,

Osmond eyed the stack skeptically and mumbled, "I'm a headmaster not a village chief for Brimir sakes… " He reached for the parchment at the top of the towering paper stack and began studying the letter; intricately designed initials 'CM' impressed on the red sealing wax.

 _Count Mott._

The headmaster furrowed his brows, what does he want this time?

Though they both shared a _fascination_ with the female physique, their interest was conveyed through different means. Osmond did it in good fun, _yes… Good fun_. His cheeks colored at the thought of Longueville's unmentionables.

The Count… The count was something else entirely, Osmond knew he crossed the line between fascination and obsession somewhere. But the man was too refined, too cautious. Authorities could never pin him with any charges, not that they could charge the man with anything, being a palace messenger granted him perks.

Naturally, Osmond wouldn't let rumours affect his professionalism so he decided to give the man the benefit of the doubt. Still, it didn't soothe irritation at the back of his head. He opened the letter using a letter knife he kept in his second drawer and began reading it. His gaze slowly crawled from each scribbled word to another. Years dealing with paperwork had taught the headmaster that a written letter held two messages, both written; one in the words and the other in the handwriting itself.

The underlying message in this one was ' _I'm too important to be writing this to some headmaster for a dingy old school full of brats'_.

That's what the headmaster thought at least, the written message was one announcing his arrival by tomorrow morning, bearing news of some sort and expecting a welcome. Why he couldn't send the news via letter was beyond the headmaster. Often did he reflect about Tristain's current state of affairs, during these times he always came to a conclusion that the magic community might be growing too reliant on magic.

Osmond placed the letter in his drawer, a weary sigh escaped him as he sank deeper into his cushioned seat. He pulled out a fresh parchment and quill, dipping it into an inkwell before starting:

 _ **To the Vallieres….**_

* * *

The morning after was hustling with activity, professors and teachers from various school's of magic congregated at the academy yard. At the front, addressing the small crowd was Colbert, his gaze fell to each and every one of the teachers under his charge, solemn expressions all around. They had heard rumours floating around the academy walls: Louise le Blanc de La Valliere a rogue noble, then there was the one about her familiar a creature summoned from hell itself. Truthfully, Colbert didn't blame them from assuming such, it was hard to ignore the abnormal familiar.

He had a total of twelve mages under his command for the duration of this hastily formed search force, including four of Louise's classmates. Colbert had briefed them at the best of his abilities, he omitted a few facts from them, namely the report from Siesta, fear it would cause further unneeded speculation. After ten minutes, everyone was well informed of their task.

The professor dismissed them, the assembled mages parted to join their assigned team members before levitating away, faces scrunched in determination, Colbert noted, they weren't going home, not without the Valliere.

The soft sound of wet grass crunching drew away Colbert's gaze and he focused his attention to his own search party, compromised of two of Louise's classmates, Miss Zerbst and Miss Tabitha, and finally his colleague, Professor Alferink; an experienced water mage of Tristainian descent. A loyal and calm man who often kept his thoughts to himself, the still blue fabric of his robes reflected both his character and his magical affinity.

"So the south…?" Alferink raised a question, the two students flanked him.

Colbert nodded.

This time the red haired mage stepped closer, her face was unreadable, a totally alien expression on the normally boisterous noble. "Professor, Tabitha has something to tell you." Kirche told him, her arms crossed, she motioned for the smaller mage to speak.

Brow curved, the bald professor couldn't help but feel curious. Tabitha rarely spoke, when she did however, it was succinct. "Yes, Miss Tabitha?"

"Heard something" Tabitha muttered, her gaze was pasted on the pages of her oversized book levitating in front of her. Her eyes momentarily glanced up at Colbert then back at the book, the pages flipped on its own.

"What did you hear?" Colbert was taking his time with Tabitha, he knew the girl worked at her own pace.

"Conversation." She remarked, "Louise's familiar and Maid."

"Maid?"

"Siesta."

"Oh Brimir's beard!" Kirche interrupted them, obviously irritated at the rate their conversation was going. She went into an animated explanation about what Louise's familiar had told the maid, with each passing moment the expression on both of the present professors' turned grim with Tabitha nodding each time Kirche turned to her for support.

Colbert stroked his chin, brows furrowed. "This complicates things." He said finally.

"That's putting it lightly." Alferink added whilst massaging his temple. "If the church heard about this… " The water mage let the sentence hang.

Colbert shook his head, "Thank you for the piece of information, Miss Tabitha." The Gallian dipped her chin slightly, that was as close as a nod as Colbert could get from Tabitha. "Atleast we now know _why_ she did it. Miss Tabitha, I recommend bringing your familiar along."

The Gallian made a sharp whistle, a moment later, they all heard the sound of wings beating in the distance. Colbert gazed towards the sky, where mottles of clear white clouds floated, then amongst the thickest patch, the clouds burst apart. A dragon descended, its blue scales perfectly matched the sky while its white underbelly camouflaging the dragon amidst the clouds.

It landed on all fours near Tabitha, nuzzling it's master briefly before the mage began mounting it. Colbert was familiar with dragons, being a fire mage himself it had been obvious to him since the start of his career he'd be working alongside dragons or even against dragons at one point. His assumptions were correct, during his lengthy career he'd had seen all manner of dragons, fire, earth, water and wind. All were equally terrifying in their magical might.

But not one such as Tabitha's, Colbert was sure something was different about the supposed wind dragon.

Before the Professor could ponder much more, a blast of wind buffeted him. He brought his arm up, he barely saw the the dragon and it's master took flight. Colbert chanted the levitation spell under his breath and he quickly followed suit.

He glanced over his shoulder, he had briefly forgotten about the Zerbst and Alferink who he thought could keep up. But he was reminded the former was just an average student and the latter had barely left the academy compound over the years.

Colbert's concerns were swept aside as the two mages quickly caught up, the red head sporting an annoyed expression. "This isn't a race you know." She grumbled.

"Time is against us, Ms. Zerbst, if we can't find Louise today, the Headmaster would have to inform of her disappearance to the Valliere's." Colbert said, matching the dragon's speed. He didn't bother scanning over the roads and forest below, he knew the young Valliere was far ahead. "And the Duchess would no doubt want to have a word with the search party in charge of finding her and with what Miss Tabitha has revealed to us today the implications would be dire… There is no telling what the Duchess would do."

"But the Zero is her daughter!" Kirche shouted over the sound of wind, "She wouldn't harm her daughter... would she?"Colbert took note of the uncertainty in her voice, he resisted shaking his head.

"You're a Zerbst, your family has a long line of history with them." Colbert answered, not meeting the Zerbst gaze. "You tell me, Ms. Zerbst."

"Duchess…Loyal…" Colbert heard Tabitha's remark. He winced at the mention of the word, Loyalty to whom exactly? Tristania? The Queen ? The Princess? He knew the latter two wasn't the ones in charge. That very same loyalty had led him to witness the deaths of his comrades in arms.

"If we can find her first, then we can put the matter to rest." Alferink contributed, snapping Colbert from his reverie.

"You'd do that?" The Zerbst said, relief flooded her voice. "What about the things her familiar said?"

"We can assume Ms. Louise is under it's influence, " Alferink continued, Colbert imagined the man was probably stroking his chin right about now if he could. "The very fact her familiar is providing it with no small amount must be a breath of fresh air for her… Or… she could be forced, I've not seen this familiar with my own eyes but from what I've heard it is unnaturally _big_ thus it could be powerful, if only in strength."

They nodded in almost unison, Colbert hadn't considered it, but it was very possible. "It could also speak." He said.

"Intelligence… " Alferink deduced, "Blackmail perhaps?"

"The maid that came back yesterday informed me and the Headmaster that Louise ran away because her familiar was errant. Truthfully, I find that hard to believe, wouldn't you? With what Ms. Tabitha had told us, the familiar is nothing but loyal. See this conflict?"

"The maid knows something, possibly the exact location of our missing Valliere. I apologize, if I were present during that meeting I could've seen past the half-truths." Alferink muttered.

* * *

They had been flying for a good portion of the day and the sun was nearly setting, there had been no sight of the Valliere, the Zerbst had scoured the forest, levitating only a few inches above ground, looking for any clues to Louise's whereabouts, it was impossible for her familiar to tread without leaving a mark. But it was just that, nothing seemed out of place, the forest had been quiet and undisturbed. So Kirche had questioned afew travelling merchants, stopping them briefly to ask, but none had the answer she wanted.

Tabitha and Sylph on the other hand spent the day flying, the Gallian coupled with her knowledge of spying magics and her useful familiar was the search party's eyes and ears in the sky, Sylph's sharp eyes combed through the forest, even the slightest movement didn't go unaware. Tabitha was perfectly in sync with the dragon's motions, her eyes would be closed, listening to the sounds down below.

If only they flew just a little farther, then the spots of black upon the green terrain would've been visible to them, masked barely by dark green foliage of the ancient trees surrounding the ominous structures.

Alferink and Colbert meanwhile, rotated roles, sometimes they flew up in the sky and sometimes they levitated slowly through the forest. Both didn't yield any satisfying results.

When it came the time to call the search off, Colbert anticipated the Zerbst's reaction, wanting to stay and look for the Valliere for awhile longer, the professor knew Tabitha wanted to as well. Fortunately Alferink argued they'd be better of looking for the Siesta first as she probably knew more than she had led on. The red head begrudgingly agreed.

On their way back they had linked up with the rest of the search parties, Colbert had hoped they'd come across _anything_ , but alas, they joined his party empty handed. Once the rest of the search parties had regrouped they lazily floated back to the Academy, some still hoped on that on their way back they would still somehow find the Valliere, hidden amongst trees or behind a rock.

Wishful thinking at best.

As minutes pass, the academy towers came into view, regal and elegant; overlooking most of the terrain, appearing to be shouting down the ancient and giant trees surrounding the area. They got closer and now Colbert could see a lone figure; Headmaster Osmond, Colbert knew from the beard and the white hair, seeing off a carriage already on its way back to wherever it came from, beside the headmaster was his secretary.

The search force landed on the yard and he turned to give them a quick debrief, once it was all done, he and his search party approached the headmaster who was waiting for them under an archway. "Ah, Professor!" Osmond greeted him, "Judging from the sullen expressions, I'm guessing the search didn't go quite as well."

"We didn't find anything." Colbert summed it all up. "We searched the whole area surrounding the academy, Ms. Zerbst had also taken the extra measure of searching through the forest, there were no signs of Ms. Valliere anywhere."

The headmaster's joyful expression soured, "That was expected, she probably found a horse and gotten far by now."

Colbert heard Alferink cleared his throat; he glanced at the water mage whom was adjusting his glasses. "A plausible deduction, headmaster." He said, "But we a clue to where she might've gone."

"Oh?" The headmaster's lips curled into a perfect 'o', intrigued.

"Siesta, the maid, she lied to us." Colbert met the headmaster's gaze, brows furrowed in annoyance. "She knows more than she led on."

The headmaster frowned, he sighed wearily before saying, "If you're thinking of talking to her, then you're out of luck." He turned to face the gate where the carriage had exited. "Seems we are all out of luck nowadays."

"What? Why?" The Zerbst asked.

" The carriage that just departed belongs to the palace messenger," Osmond waved his staff, "and the palace messenger is none other than—"

"Count Montt."Alferink cut him off, his voice strained.

"Yes, _Count Montt,"_ Osmond replied with equal strain, or was it disgust? Colbert couldn't really tell but something told him it was the latter, if the rumors surrounding the palace messenger were true.

" So he took her?" Alferink asked again, the headmaster nodded. The water mage scoffed, turning away.

"What's so significant about the palace messenger anyway?" Kirche blurted.

"He basically owns Siesta now." Colbert answered.

"Irrelevant." Everyone turned to the soft voice, it was Tabitha, her eyes still glued to her book, the dragon faithfully stood guard behind her. "Siesta has information… Louise is Valliere… Takes precedence… " Tabitha muttered in between the constant turns of the pages of her book.

Osmond chuckled, "Right again, Tabitha, Siesta _might_ have information on the whereabouts of our missing Valliere, but then again she might not. In any case, we have a right to make a query as she is withholding valuable information." The headmaster paused, pulling out a pipe from his robe which was deftly swiped away by his secretary. A vein visibly bulged on his forehead, though the smile on his face eerily remained. " here will write a letter to him immediately."

Colbert saw the woman roll her eyes, stalking away with the pipe in her hand. "We'll depart right away." He stated.

"No, no. You've earned rest, you'll depart after dinner." Said the headmaster, he turned once more to the small group. "You'll have to settle this matter by today, professor. I know not how much longer I can suppress the rumours, it wont be long until the Duchess herself hears of this." With that the headmaster walked away.

* * *

Far away, beyond the countless trees; the Nod base had grown, three buildings in under a few days. The ominous black shell of the structures absorbed the glow of the moonlight, appearing like nothing but spots of black on dark green and yellow terrain, tainting it like a spreading plague.

These structures stretched hundreds of meters deep into the earth; halls dimly lit by red lights branched out to hundreds of rooms, some filled with machines and equipment that; if wielded against the average Halkeginian soldier today, would kill them in a manner of ways; most of which would cause burn marks so severe even the most talented fire mage in Halkeginia would be hard-pressed to match, let alone surpass.

But despite the awesome firepower these rooms held, it was mostly devoid of complex life, even the basic life would find it hard to strive in them for the A.I., 424, would periodically decontaminate these rooms. Despite this however, groans of pain and heavy breathing resounded from one particular room inside the Hand of Nod.

"Sweet Brimir…" Panted Louise, brushing away hair from her face, sweat ran down her face in rivulets, matting her pink hair to the sides of her face. She bent over, palming her knees, breath heavy with exertion from running. "How…is…this…beneficial?" She breathed.

" **Your strength and cardio is questionable, Prophet."** It replied, Louise scoffed. **"You are healthy, however, your posture is rigid and blood circulation is poor."**

"I didn't need to do…anything that demanded flexibility and Brimir damned good blood circulation." True to her words, most of her life was spent being drilled about being a noble. The other half was spent being drilled about the rule of steel. Louise chuckled, that certainly explained her rigidness.

" **It would be best to start on your cardio as it the simplest we can do now."** Her familiar continued, ignoring Louise's outburst. **"One more lap, prophet."**

Louise groaned and straightened herself, despite her protest she knew the machine was correct. It had been years since she involved herself in anything rigorous. The last time she did anything like this was with Princess Henrietta years ago. She missed the exhilaration and the freedom from a good run.

She resumed, picking up the pace. _One foot infront of the other,_ she repeated that mantra over and over. Louise had completed two laps, the first one 424 had advised her to properly breathe after seeing her seemingly chocking on her own spit from breathing too shallow and getting side stitches after a few meters. The second lap 424 told her to keep an even pace and not too sprint. Now she was doing better, though she still got exhausted after a hundred or so meters.

Louise busied her mind with something else, determined to complete the rest of the lap without stopping. She admired the cavernous room she was in, the floor was exquisitely polished wood, shining beneath the large white lights hanging on the ceiling. In the middle of the room were neatly assembled black mats, Louise assumed they were for sparring. Encircling them was the running path she was currently in. At the rim were an assortment of equipment her familiar had told her was for exercising.

Despite her efforts to distract her mind, her body was intent on reminding her of it's current situation. She controlled her breaths, taking in air through both her nose and mouth, expelling them the same way. Her chest felt like it was burning, but she pressed on, her head was swaying side to side, Louise grunted and straightened herself once more.

She saw the finish line and suddenly the determination to finish flooded into her system, her legs propelled her once more, aching and sore. Louise passed the white line, and suppressed the urge to crash and roll onto the floor. Panting like a dog out of breath, she swiped the sweat away from her forehead and padded to a nearby bench.

Louise reached for her rucksack beneath the bench, and unzipped it, the particular mechanism was ingenious, why no one ever thought of it baffled her. She fished out the energy drink, opened it and chugged it down like she had been traversing the deserts of Rhub-al-Khali. Her taste buds had familiarized themselves with the bizarre taste.

The Valliere exhaled loudly as she placed the drink on the bench, she felt a belch coming up but quickly contained it, she'd ignore noble etiquette from time to time, but not this one. "I did it!" She exclaimed.

She waited for her familiar's response, she expected a quick acknowledgement or something equal to that, but after a few moments there was no reply. She pressed the earpiece, "Familiar?"

A buzz, nothing.

"Four-two-four?" Asked Louise, slightly worried now.

" **Apologies, prophet."** 424's deep rumbling voice filled her ear, Louise sighed. **"A grave matter has surfaced."**

"What about?" Louise pulled out a fresh banana from her rucksack, unpeeled it and took a small bite.

" **Siesta of Tarbes, "** The A.I. replied, **"She has been taken."**

* * *

 **AN: First off, I'm sorry. I could list a lot of excuses for my tardiness but I bet noone would give a crap. lol. I know I wouldnt. Now would someone demand the next chapter of 'the mission stays the same' from that one guy? I need that. we all do.**

 **Anyway! Here is the sixth chapter, apologies for any errors, please comment them and I shall fix them quickly.**

 **Apologies again if this chapter does not meet some of your expectations. I had a ball of a time writing the food scene. I feel like quentin tarantino now. An amateur one atleast.**

 **If youre reading this on desktop or laptop, it might not be as appealing as reading it on a phone. I recommend it on the phone, the paragraphs are more readable and ...things...i swear writing this just .. lol nvm.**

 **Apologies again!**

 **P.S. next time it wont take this long. Plus-Plus! This chapter is extra long, i decide to make up for my tardiness. Dont you dare quote liam neeson for that last bit!**


	7. Chapter 7 : Fighters Arm Up!

**Chapter 7: Fighters Arm Up!**

Louise saw black shapes pass the window, tall and dark as they were imposing. The heavy rain pattered the glass dividing her and the harsh conditions outside of the metal carriage. A flash of lightning filled the small compartment, followed by the groan of thunder, deafening the the metal carriage's growls as it rolled on it's six wheels.

The rogue mage then shifted her attention elsewhere, more specifically to the empty seat across her where the maid, Siesta, would've taken, and from that seat she would've shot her mouth off with more of the prophetical non-sense 424 had fed her.

 _That same mouth that got her into all of this trouble in the first place_ , Louise groaned inwardly.

Though 424 had told her otherwise at the base, Siesta had apparently caught the attention of Count Mott. Confirming one of the rumours Louise had heard about the man at least. Hopefully, the rest would remain just as that, rumours. 'Should I ask if you even _have_ a plan in mind, Four-two-four?' Louise heard herself ask, she already knew the answer but she never planned on giving the familiar an easy time.

' **Infiltrate the compound, locate Siesta of Tarbes, initiate rescue and exfiltrate.'** And there it was, not the answer Louise had expected, she had thought her familiar would say something regarding it being a harvesting unit and not a battle unit. It was her second guess though.

'That isn't a very good plan.' Louise bit her lip, wracking her brain for a better solution to the problem. She could bargain with the Count, who could deny House Valliere? Yes, that would work, offer him something…or someone else in return for the maid. 'I was hoping we could trade with him, not… this.' She gestured towards the rest of her body, adorned with an "armored" vest and other protective material her familiar had forced her to wear.

' **We agree, it is not a good plan. However, it is the only one available.'** It answered matter as factly, Louise cringing from the tone of his voice. **'We doubt this man would hand over Siesta of Tarbes so easily due to the falacious rumours surrounding him. Second, we must account for further actions as well, if you succeed in dealing with the Count using the Valliere name, he would no doubt contact the academy in the future, there, the staff would make connections and swiftly arrest Siesta if she returns.**

Louise shifted in her seat, slightly disturbed by the facts that she should've considered sooner. Her familiar was right, as always. 'The count has experienced men patrolling his mansion around the clock, I'm just an incompetent mage and you're expecting me to get into a well-guarded compound like a spy?' Louise huffed, crossing her arms and casted her gaze outside the port again. The rain had still not let up, in fact, more lightning cracked the skies, illuminating the wildly swaying trees on the side.

' **Affirmative, it is what we are expecting, '** Louise turned her head sharply, wanting to retort but her familiar continued. **'You are not incompetent, a lesser** _ **mage**_ **would have not been able to stabilize a wormhole long enough for us to cross safely.'** She bit back her reply and swallowed it whole. She was oddly impressed with her familiar for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact it knew when to lay down the hard facts when it was too hard for her to see and then calm her afterwards.

Another person might've been repulsed by her brazen attitude, that much she was aware but never had the opportunity to amend. Not when the academy still had people like Kirche the bearer of milkbags around, else, she would've been forgiving and cordial with the others. 'Fine,' She finally said, uncrossing her arms. 'Get in, find Siesta, get out, easy, shouldn't be too hard, right?'

" **Affirmative.'** The answer came in a second longer than usual, Louise paid it no mind, instead opted to steel her nerves for the things to come. It was a daunting task, she made no attempt to disguise the anxiety looming on the horizon, her feet would tap a fast rhythm and her fingers would soon follow but her mind was the one she worried most.

Was she ready to _infiltrate_ another noble's personal compound? No, she wasn't. She wasn't bred and raised to do these things but she knew the risks if she didn't. But the root of the problem… _yes,_ Louise exhaled deeply, it wasn't Siesta nor it was the Count's fault. It was her familiar. Her damnable familiar that had tripped her and Siesta into this escapade. An escapade that would soon escalate into something bigger if not handled correctly and swiftly.

Louise bunched her palms together, rubbing them as if to find solace in the warmth it brought. She made up her mind, after she rescued the maid, they would return to the academy, damn the familiar and the base, if her mother found out she'd hang Louise by her feet and parade her across the country if not worse… it would likely be much worse if Karin the Heavy Wind found out her last daughter was a heretic.

* * *

'This wasn't the plan.' Louise murmured, her breathing labored by sudden exertion. She kicked the orc's corpse in the side just to see if the beast was truly dead. It didn't move, how could it after Louise had just shot it in it's ugly flat head not once, not twice, but five times in a row. She holstered the musket… If it could be called a musket, it was smaller; more compact. Her familiar had branded it as a gun, a small firearm wielded by earth's soldiers as a secondary weapon. She'd eyed the assortments of oddly designed rifles lining the wall of the armory, but 424 was quick to shoot down any thoughts she might have; the weapon being too cumbersome if she'd wield it.

' **Admirable as always, Prophet.'** 424 deep voice complimented. Louise scoffed, 'How much farther?'

' **Follow the path displayed on your HUD.'**

The 'HUD' was no doubt the screen on her helmet, where a fat pink trail snaked through the forest highlighting the path to take. She had forgotten all about it to be honest, what with the _excitement_ facing a brimir-be-damned orc. 'Oh prophet, how about we take this road! It's a _shortcut,_ ' The noble imitated 424's deep voice horribly, ' _Shortcut!_ Shortcut it says! I spent fifteen minutes trying to kill that wretched thing!' She delivered another kick into the orc 's side before turning to follow the trail on her HUD.

' **It did serve to test your mettle, Prophet.'** The golem reasoned, it sounded amused, if a golem could be amused in the first place. She could've died! For Brimir's sake! She huffed as she pushed onwards. The rain had died down, Louise thought, or perhaps it hadn't and the forest top had only sheltered her from most of the rainfall. Not that it mattered, her armour did prove to be useful, it was waterproof, much to her relief. Though her cloak wasn't, it was positively drenched and was dragging her back so she had unclipped the damnable thing and folded it into her pack.

Her body protested against every action she took, be it stepping over a fallen tree or pushing a branch away from her face. The previous exercise she undertook hadn't been soft on her delicate and noble body. She bit back a hysterical giggle. Could she call herself noble from this day onwards? From yesterday onwards? Time would tell. _Please let me save this foolish maid and return to academy._

It wasn't for another few minutes until they broke away from the forest, before she took another step however, a voice stopped her in her tracks. 'We're here to relieve you.' A man's voice, distant but still audible. The black clad noble slowly retreated into the tree line, ducking behind a bush. She turned towards the source of the voice.

Two armored figures stood at the gate entrance into the Count's mansion. Another duo coming up from behind, one patting the stationary guardsman on the shoulder. A change in shifts? This could be advantageous if she played her cards right. Louise observed their exchange, lengthy as it was, on one hand she was disgusted at the inefficiency of these commoners on another she was grateful for it.

A bark of laughter came, and Louise recognized it as an opening, she dashed across the dirt road and took cover behind another bush lining the gate walls. Thank Brimir for the armour, the sensation of leaves and twigs brushing up and down her person would've driven her mad if the wild grass at the compound hadn't already. The noble inched closer, as silently as she could on her toes.

'Aye, heard the Count brought in another _maid._ ' She froze, were they talking about Siesta? Surely the Count hadn't taken many maids in one day. Though after hearing the whispers regarding the man, the possibility existed.

'Maid, sure.' Another voice responded. 'How long are you gonna fool yourselves? A maid beforehand perhaps but maid no more after the count's got his eyes on 'er.'

'I find myself agreein' to this ol' coot fer once.' This time a third voice interjected, accented and loud. Then suddenly it dropped into a barely audible whisper if not for 424 machinations upon her helmet, 'The Count's a slimy toad, I'd call him a snake too! But he ain't too sneaky to be a slitherin' reptile.'

'Shush! He's still a noble none the less, a noble **we're** employed to, mind you.' A cough, then someone cleared their throat. 'Sides, he might be listenin' And after that the conversation died down, the two recently arrived guards taking up the previous spots. With another nod and wave the previous sentries left, but not without a tail. In the form of an armoured Louise who had pressed herself against the wall to avoid the sentries.

Louise branched to the left, and stopped behind a large statue. The path leading up to the main doors were cobblestones, that much she could see. Or rather feel, underneath her boots. Two marble statues flanked both sides of the path.

' **Scanning…'**

'What? What are you doing?' The sudden commentary from her familiar had almost made her jump, she was so focused with getting into the mansion she had nearly forgot she had extra baggage. **'Scan completed.'** 424 responded, and the display changed in front of her very eyes, one minute she had been gazing upon the Count's mansion and the next… She wasn't sure what she was looking at to be honest. A deconstruction of the mansions exterior and interior would be precise, as the walls and pillars were replaced with pinkish lines, a pulsating glow washing over them and then another change occurred.

The furniture was visible albeit glowing in pink, and then her display pulsed again. Several figures were now visible. Marked with a variety of colours, most were red, a few were gray and one was blue. It didn't take a genius to figure what those colours represented. It helped knowing this…technology the brotherhood sported were somewhat akin to magic. She had come across this type of magic before though, considering her _difficulties_ she had no interest in even trying to apply what she had come across.

A smirk graced her lips, look at her now. She didn't even need to use magic and it came to her effortlessly. _It wouldn't be possible without four two four,_ a small part of her whispered. Well it was true, there was no use denying it. But damn her if she was going to admit it freely. 'I wager the blue one is _our_ maid.' Louise said with undisguised irritation. **'Yes.'** Was the prompt reply.

'Good, now to get up there.' Louise murmured, her hand cupping the helmet's chin. The blue figure was on the second story, seated on a bed, and appearing to be idle. An idea came to mind, 'Four two four,' Louise started, 'Does Siesta still have the device you gave her?' An itch told her the answer was a no. **'Negative, it was most likely confiscated from her person.'**

'Of course.' She mumbled, 'Why make it so easy.' Louise sighed, 'Any plans? And before you say anything, I definitely _cannot_ sneak into the main doors.'

' **We fail to see why the prophet is against the idea. You are disguised. None would be any wiser.'** Louise stilled, her voice caught in her throat. 'Well… if you put it that way… Still! There are a dozen—' as she turned to gesture at the mansion and the healthy complement of guards, she had noticed a small detail that she had previously ignored: A carriage, bearing the academy insignia.

Her jaw stiffened. What were _they_ doing here? As if reading her mind, her familiar spoke, **'They have caught on… It was only a matter of time, and still is. We should hurry, Prophet, before more complications arise.'**

It didn't need to say anymore as Louise was already in motion. Darting from cover to cover, a part of her wondered why she even need to, her clothes were so dark she'd bet a toe it'd even absorb light. Louise had to circle the entire mansion to find an entry point; the door into the pantry which was the only lightly guarded door she could observe around the entire compound.

She'd spotted three gray figures about in the pantry, their gray limbs moving about in a fashion that Louise could assume was cooking and washing dishes. If the pantry was still manned then it meant the mansion was still alive; the people were still about. No thanks to the entourage from the academy. 'I don't suppose you could tell who the academy sent to retrieve Siesta?'

' **Negative, insufficient data.'**

'Worth a try at least. ' The noble murmured, she had a good idea who the academy might send. There was little doubt that Professor Colbert would be here, he had displayed an interest in four two four before. The others… She didn't have the slightest clue who they might be. There was no use dawdling on the matter anyhow. 'How am I supposed to get past the cooks?' She muttered under her breath.

'We have advised you to bring along the tranquilizer rounds as well, we think it is useful in this situation.' 424 intoned, Louise exchanged the ammunition storage awkwardly. She was at least thankful the gun wasn't as troublesome as the musket. She'd seen commoners wield the weapon, fire a shot and reload. Rarely do they get to reload thrice in a battle, the Mages from the opposing army would've decimated them sooner.

The gun emitted an audible click, Louise examined the gun once more before leaning on the wall by the entrance. The kitchen staff didn't look away from their tasks, one was cleaning pots and pans, another was stirring stew judging by the smell wafting from the pot, the last one was sleeping the floors in slow deliberate strokes.

She took a deep breath, and slid the gun out, aiming at the first cook by the pot and pulled the trigger. The gun's sound was unlike a musket's, it was silent and sharp. Though 424 had explained it was due to some modifications. The effects were instant, the cook wobbled, eyes blinking rapidly, trying to dispel the sudden bout of dizziness and not too long after his legs gave in, and he fell gracelessly on the grimy tiles.

'Oy, Walhorn? Oy!' The others were alerted by the dull thud and rushed to the man's aid. _That's my cue._ Louise slipped in, unnoticed, ducking behind counters and kitchen tops to elude the kitchen staff. It's a wonder they didn't notice the dart, it was jutting out from his neck like another appendage.

Her luck she supposed.

Exiting the pantry, she navigated through the hall ways, _stealthily_ darting behind whatever furniture she came across whenever the mansion staff came her way. They would've noticed her, if it weren't for the tired looks on their faces. _Mott must've been pushing them hard._ Finding her way to the second floor proved easier than she thought, leagues easier than fighting the orc. There was a matter of nerves however, there was the fear of being caught, she could fend them off, but for how long? It wouldn't be long until they overwhelm her with sheer numbers.

Then there was the threat of being accosted by the academy staff sent here. Oh the shame if they knew what she was doing is unthinkable.

She stopped before a simple door, the blue figure in the room behind it lounging lazily on the bed. _Tch, that maid! She isn't even trying to escape!_ _And here I am, trying my damnedest to rescue her!_ Louise twisted the knob, a little too forcefully and barged her way in. 'Enjoying your time here, Maid?!'

The figure on the bed was no doubt a maid, the uniform affirmed her suspicions. Though this one certainly wasn't the particular maid she was looking for, aside from the lack of _weight_ on the chest, the hair was definitely off: red twin-tails draped between a square face. Her features were contorted in confusion, anger and then her hazel eyes widened in realization and fear. For standing at the doorway was a diminutive demon, clad in black, glowing red slits staring at her.

Louise cleared the distance faster than she thought she could when the maid opened her mouth to scream. She pinned the maid down, hand clamped over her mouth, cries muffled beneath heavy gloves. 'You best not make a sound, commoner! Or Mott will be the least of your worries!' The maid nodded, subdued. Louise's voice must've cowed the poor woman. She'd been surprised hearing herself the first time, through the helmet her voice sounded almost like feminine version of 424.

'Listen and listen well, I know very well how the Count is. I will release my hand, you better not scream or I'll stuff your mouth with ice!' She pulled out her wand and waved it inches from the maid's face, her eyes blaring in surprise. 'Tell me what I want to know .'

* * *

 _They'll come and save me, I know. The prophet wouldn't abandon her followers. Four-two-four wouldn't allow it. It entrusted me with this mission._ Siesta breathed deeply, uttering a prayer in Louise's name. _four-two-four knows how valuable these people are, they're the heralds of a new dawn._

'Come Siesta, stop it. If Mott catches you uttering that blasphemy again it'd be the end for you.' A voice chimed, laced with worry. Siesta knew it as Odette, a woman a decade older than her, Siesta would guess. Naturally, she had a motherly instinct to bear, as with all head maids Siesta had ever met. Granted she'd only met two in her short tenure as a maid, still it only served to prove her point.

Ever since Siesta had been taken into the basement, she had muttered prayers to appease the anxiousness gnawing in her chest. She had lost the magical item that allowed her to speak with four-two-four over the distances. _Careless! Grandfather would be furious for such sloppy handling of holy items._ Siesta sighed deeply, this was bothering her too much. And as if the crystals themselves were punishing her, she had been swiped from her place of duty by the infamous Count Mott.

Powerless to resist, she agreed to transfer under Mott's charge. _Horrible…_ _Plain horrible._ The man appeared to be agreeable at first glance, charming even. But it was all a façade to hide the squirmy and slimy reptilian slithering beneath the mask. It had not been a day under his employment that he had shown signs of sexual interest towards her; the leers, the not-so-subtle hints, she despised it all, but hid it under a carefully sculpted smile.

It boiled until one point, he had cornered her in the hallway. Next thing she knew she was thrown in the basement. If she had to guess it was for screaming for the prophet Louise to help her. A smile cracked her beaten features, _most likely because of that._ A chuckle bubbled up her throat but she suppressed it. She turned her head to Odette, 'I'm speaking the truth, ma'am, you'll see. She'll save us, she'll give you new lives.'

Siesta could practically hear the woman roll her eyes in the darkness, 'Well, she isn't here yet, so forgive me for having doubts, Siesta.' Odette cleared her throat, and Siesta felt the woman's hand on her shoulder. 'But seriously Siesta, give up this idea of a rescue. There's no one coming for you… For us. Even if they did, it would do you good to be more quiet. Count Mott and his guards don't take to kindly to the words you're saying.'

 _But not you, you don't care what I'm saying._ Siesta softened her features, the woman in front of her still didn't understand. She will, that was a fact; every one of them in this forsaken cage would see the light of Louise. 'Stop it, you bull-headed whore! You are going to get all of us killed with your heresy!' Charlotte lashed out, the small lantern illuminating her face, lips contorted in a frown and brows furrowed. Not all of them were as friendly as Odette, some still harboured skepticism, outright hate even.

Siesta couldn't contain the chuckle anymore, and it erupted, her hand reaching to grip at the cage bar. Beneath the lantern, the faces of her _companions_ reverted into confusion and fear. _Had Siesta gone mad?_ _Hah!_ 'A new age is upon us! You're fortunate I'm here! It just means you'll be chosen as the first!'

Not a moment later, something struck her face. Charlotte had slapped her, teeth baring; given the chance, Siesta doubted Charlotte would shy out of punching her right now. But the younger maid couldn't risk it, she couldn't hurt Mott's toy. None of them were allowed to as much as touch each other except for the man himself.

'Stop it! Stop it!' Odette interjected, pushing Charlotte away from Siesta. Then glanced at her, 'You stop blabbering the nonsense and—'Odette jabbed a finger at the air in front of Charlotte, 'You! Calm down! This does not help anyone!'

That seemed to cow the younger maid as Siesta heard footsteps shuffling to the corner of the cell. 'This is madness, Siesta. You know it!' Odette concentrated on her again, she opened her mouth to rebut but the jarring sound of the door swinging open drew her attention. Light poured from the doorway, a shadow casted over the wooden staircase. 'Siesta?' the figure called out, it's voice a sound Siesta had no words to describe. Perhaps the cackle of electricity would be the closest description.

'Louise?' Her lips spread into a wild grin, she turned to Charlotte, the younger maid's face incredulous. Odette was stunned into silence. The figure was clearly Louise, Siesta would recognize the prophet anywhere despite the bulk of the clothing she was wearing, odd as it was. 'You have so much to ans—what's wrong with your face? Why is it—Did Mott do this?' Louise stammered mid-sentence, a gloved hand outstretched.

Siesta nodded meekly,'It's nothing, milady.' The quick response seem to stall the noble, who was groping at empty air. 'You have black and blue spots all over! T-that isn't nothing!' Louise quickly went towards the cell-door, reached into her pack and proceeded to blow the lock open with some sort of device. 'Answer me now, did the Count do this?' There was that familiar sound of authority in Lady Louise's voice.

'N-no… I mean, not personally. He had his men do it.' She answered as she staggered out from the cell. The prophet was silent for a moment, contemplating, but Siesta could feel the mood in the air changing.

' _Despicable._ ' The glowing slits on her helmet flashed a bright red, mirroring the venom in the noble's voice. She turned around, 'You two! I've come to free this maid, Siesta, from the wretched Count, if you wish to follow me then you will follow me to salvation or… You can stay here and be content with how he treats you. Your choice.' The noble pivoted on her heel and stomped out of the cellar.

The victorious grin never left Siesta's face as she followed the true prophet, no more words needed to be uttered. The barely audible footsteps behind her was proof enough, they had no choice. It was either follow Louise the "blasphemer" or be under the wrath of Count Montt. They were merely driven by desperation… But the truth will find them.

* * *

 _How dare he! The audacity to lay a finger on a woman!_ Granted, Siesta was but a mere commoner. She was still a woman. To call himself a Count, a figure to be looked up upon by the people was insulting! Louise was fuming beneath her helmet, 'Tails! You are following me, like it _or not.'_ A whimper came from beside the door where the _rescued_ maid was waiting.

Unfortunately, 424 had informed her something was interfering with the device in her helmet from obtaining the precise location of Siesta. Which forced her to _conscript_ the maid into helping her find Siesta's exact location. She had been helpful enough, even after outright refusing to help Louise after explaining her situation—after carefully leaving out the bits and pieces about herself being the proclaimed _prophet._

It wasn't after Louise had thrown the implications of being under the employment of the _esteemed_ Count did the maid budge. Even then, Louise had her weapon loaded with a tranq dart and aimed at her back the entire time she was guiding her through the mansion.

The relief after hearing Siesta's voice was indescribable, it was as if a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. But the moment the dim lighting of the cellar reached the cell Siesta was kept in, her blood had run cold. Seeing the naturally cheerful maid beaten and bruised shook Louise. Despite it all, Siesta still managed a smile as Louise blasted the lock. Behind the bruised maid were two others, _victims_ of the Count.

Louise was glad they had decided to come, they wouldn't suffer this treatment any longer! 'The quickest way out is through the rear doors.' Louise told them and they nodded in almost perfect unison. The noble took the lead, confidently sneaking through the hallway. 'Lady Louise…' The older maid spoke, her platinum blonde hair was fashioned into a single braid running down her left shoulder. 'Are we leaving the others?' Her voice was laced with worry.

'I can't bring all of you at once, even if I wanted to.' Louise told her, the maid didn't reply and Louise took it as a sign to continue. The metal carriage couldn't afford to bring the whole mansion staff. As if she could whisk them all in one swoop in one try without anyone noticing. No, Louise had to come again another day. By then, the Count would most probably sent out bounties for the missing persons and replaced them in the same day.

Was she doing the right thing by saving these ladies? And indirectly subjecting the women who would replace the ones she'd taken to the Count's treatment? She could only hope she was doing the right thing. If push came to a shove, she'd find a way to report this… Somehow. 'We'll come back for them,' She said over her shoulder, that seemed to appease the blonde at least. Siesta offered Louise a smile, that made her feel like she'd done the right thing.

They stopped before the kitchen doors, 'The cooks are still in there.' Louise informed them, she reached for the tranq darts but stopped when the older maid came forward, face resolute. 'Let me, I'll convince them to let us pass.' Louise stared at her for a moment, 'If you try anything…' She left the threat hanging; the maid bit her lip but understood none the less. She disappeared behind the door, Louise heard the kitchen staff welcome her happily. They asked her why she wasn't asleep yet and how Mott had strict schedule for the maids particularly. But the maid shushed them, and immediately called out on their ignorance. The situation appeared escalate from there. But their voices settled down once more and apologies were exchanged.

A minute later, she emerged. Louise already knew what had transpired, she held up her hand to stop the maid from explaining and merely took the lead from there. She pushed the doors open, casually addressing the shocked kitchen staff with a nod before exiting through the back door. The line of maids behind her followed suit. 'Tell the Count I will return soon.' Louise said over her shoulder ominously, the kitchen staff managed to nod weakly.

' **One minute till the Emissary arrives to your position, Prophet.'**

'Quickly.' She whispered. They took positions behind a hedge in the garden, the guards rarely passed the area but Louise didn't want to take any chances. The maids—other than Siesta—were starting to show signs of doubt. Siesta seemed to notice this and quickly reassured them. _Where are you familiar?_

'Lady Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere!' A man's voice filled the night air, a shiver ran down her spine. Through the thick hedge her helmet filtered the vision, a man was standing on the veranda overlooking the garden, a group of people on his flanks. 'I see the rogue mage has decided to visit my humble abode! Have you come to kidnap my hardworking staff hmm?' It was undoubtedly the Count, only his voice would make Louise twitch, aside from Kirche's. 'Count Mott, best not to throw around that accusation yet, we don't know the full story behind the Lady's actions.' Louise felt relieved at hearing Professor's Colbert voice.

'Louise? We know you're out here. Come back to the Academy, Louise. We can sort this out like nobility.' The Professor was leaning against the rails, he might know she was here, but not her exact location. 'Hey shortie! Come out! You're embarrassing yourself y'know!' _Kirche, great._

'I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to—' The youngest maid stood up, revealing their position, quaking in place as if overcame by a sudden fever. Louise knew that particular one was trouble, the braided one, Odette, if Louise heard right; pulled her back down and covered her mouth with a hand. But it was too late, the mages on the veranda was shining light towards their position. _Damn it!_ Armored footfalls were approaching them, _four-two-four where are you?!_

'I will go back! But not now!' She shouted over the hedge, she had to stall them somehow.

* * *

'Ha! I knew you were there, Little Louise! Why don't'cha give up now, geez, it's getting tired chasing you around like this.' Kirche yelled back. Professor Colbert nodded to Alferink, who silently began to cast a spell. With luck they'd be able to trap the rogue mage before the scene escalated. Right now, Colbert had to calm Miss Louise and the runaway maids. How she was capable of convincing them to desert their posts in the first place baffled the Professor.

Louise wasn't known for her speech-craft… Colbert suppressed an amused snort, no, Lady Valliere was infamous for her fiery speech. Not the kind to win hearts however. 'Louise, stop this… Whatever you think you're doing, this isn't right. Nobles do not kidnap people, Louise. Your familiar. It has affected you for the worse.' Colbert tried placating her, hoping she would listen.

'Tell that to the _Count!_ I don't think nobles are supposed to beat defenseless maids either!' Lady Louise spat back, her voice was different, deeper and had a static effect. _Just what exactly had the familiar done to her?_ Colbert clenched his jaw, and turned to Alferink. He was just about done with the spell, only a few seconds more until they had her trapped in the garden.

And then the unthinkable happened.

The garden wall shattered, pieces of stone flying inwards as a dark metal construct rolled in, red lights streamed from two points on the construct, bathing the garden with an eerie glow. 'Get into the carriage!' Colbert was brought from the initial shock by Louise's voice. She was standing now, frantically ushering the maids to the construct. _It's her's?_ _Damn it._ 'Alferink!' He turned to his colleague, who finished the spell with a flair of his wand.

'No one steals my maids!' The Count pitched in, uttering his own water spell. It's too late for them, they had them surrounded. Alferink's wind wall would push them away if they tried to escape and with the Count's water spells it would only make their efforts all the more futile.

'Professor, Louise is going to get away!' Miss Kirche added, leaning dangerously against the rail. 'They can't get away,' He assured her, Alferink nodded in affirmation. 'Have your guards encircle the carriage as she calls it, Count.'

The count relayed the order and the guards fell into position, spears pointed at the beast. Then the carriage moved a perfect one hundred and eighty degrees in place; a maneuver quite impossible if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. 'It's not going anywhere.' Alferink said, face stoic as ever.

The metal carriage roared, smoke billowed from it's underside, causing the guards to cough and wheeze and then it moved, unearthing the dirt and flowerbed, spewing it from beneath it's wheels. It met the wind barrier with a loud screech, Colbert cringed at the sound but otherwise unaffected. The beast was intent on escaping, in fact it was pushing through the wind barrier before being slowly pushed back again as water began to puddle beneath it's wheels. 'You're not escaping, Miss Louise.' He heard Alferink mutter.

The carriage was going to be deep in the mud if it continued it's efforts.

A black figure emerged from a metal hatch on top of the carriage, and before Colbert knew what was happening, Alferink was on the ground, unconscious and the Count followed soon after. 'Asleep.' Tabitha broke her silence and casted a wind shield spell. 'She's getting away!' Kirche yelled. _Damn it, it was not supposed to go this way._

'Fireball!' Colbert aimed the fireball at the carriage as it rolled away unimpeded. He was dismayed when the fire bounced off the armor harmlessly, glancing into the trees and setting it on fire. 'Don't worry.' Tabitha's voice was soft, odd considering the position they were in. The metal carriage was now out of sight; the men below looking up towards them for guidance.

'Darn it, Louise!' Kirche cursed into the wind, Colbert meanwhile crouched to see what ailment had fallen on the Count and Alferink all of the sudden. _Did Miss Louise successfully cast a sleeping spell? Surely not, Alferink would've been able to resist._ It took awhile but Colbert finally found the source, a dart. Only commoner assassins used these, how Miss Louise had access to them was odd, but that could be her familiar's doing.

'No worries.' Tabitha repeated, her staff pointed towards the trail left in the armored carriage's wake.

* * *

Louise cursed quietly as she descended, the hatch closed above her. She took a seat beside Siesta. Across her, the three maids she had rescued were huddling together, with the oldest in the center, holding them all together. Louise understood how they felt, lost and perhaps angry; at her, for destroying whatever normal life they had up until she showed up and at Mott for lying.

She could only promise them something better, with four-two-four's amazing industrial capabilities, they could strive to reach something far better than what they had back there. **'Mission accomplished, Prophet. Additional objectives completed.'** Four-two-four announced in the small compartment, startling the bunched maids. Siesta perked up at the sound of the familiar's voice.

'Four-two-four! I'm glad to hear your voice again!' She chirped, 'I-I'm deeply sorry. I've lost the magical item you gave me.' Siesta bowed her head, ashamed.

' **A minor inconvenience, Siesta.'** Four-two-four replied, causing the maid to look up, eyes glinting with hope. Louise appreciated how four-two-four cared for the people, despite being an emotionless golem, in another instance she was appalled how it could just as easily remind her that it was indeed an emotionless golem.

'Are we going back to the yard, familiar?' She asked, the road was particularly rough; if they were even on the road to begin with. The carriage was buckling from the harsh terrain, she secured herself tighter in the harness. The maids seemed easy enough, Odette was avoiding looking at Louise, the noble understood the reason of course. The visage on the helmet didn't exactly portray friendliness.

So she decided she'd keep it on for the remainder of the journey.

' **Affirmative, however, we are as they say, taking the scenic route.'** It replied after a moment. 'Scenic route?' It's not like she could see anything outside, and as if she wanted to in the first place. The forest stretched for leagues.

' **The emissary is leaving a visible track to be followed, we determine it necessary to at least hinder any efforts to track us.'** Louise found herself nodding at the explanation, seeing no reason to argue.

'Good thinking, familiar.' She said earnestly, it deserved that much despite being the sole reason why they were all in the mess. 'I hope the sleeping darts keep them off.' She recalled herself pulling the trigger, muttering a silent prayer. They were answered swiftly, her darts found their mark, the two figures she identified as the spell-casters.

' **It should last a few hours, Prophet.'** Four-two-four clarified. _Good, that should keep them busy._

The carriage pulled to a stop half an hour later, Louise was the first to disembark. Helmet pulled off as soon as she was clear from the ramp. The maids, except for Siesta, had a difficult time adjusting to the things they were seeing. Siesta laid a careful eye on them, Charlotte specifically. She had proven herself to be volatile and extra care needed to be exercised, holy relics were present here and Siesta didn't want to tarnish her reputation with four-two-four than she already had.

'Siesta!' Louise barked, 'Guide these maids to the guest quarters and meet me in the war-room.'

Siesta bowed and led the trio off deeper into the yard.

When they were visibly out of sight, Louise dropped her shoulders. She was tired, hungry and needed a bath or a warm mini-rain. First however, she needed to deal with Siesta. With a tired step she set out for the war-room. The metal arms moved overhead, screeching and booming as they reached for the carriage behind her.

The carriage was not intended to be a carriage in the first place, that much she knew. It was only due to four-two-four's last minute modifications that made the carriage transport-worthy. From what she had read from the terminal yesterday, the _Emissary_ was technically a forward base of operations. What that meant, Louise had no idea, she'd need to research a little further into the subject.

The elevator doors hissed open, she entered and dialed the floor. It stopped a moment later, hissing open again. 'Siesta is not here yet?' She asked, the room lighting up with pink and red glows. She took a seat at the war table, leaning back into the chair.

' **She should be here soon, Prophet.'** Four-two-four announced, **'We will secure the new additions.'**

 _New additions…_ Would they even consider? She pinched the bridge of her nose. It hurt to think so soon, she leaned back. Her eye lids were heavy, and the room's temperature was adequate—too adequate—no one would pass a short nap in this state. 'Just for five minutes…' And then she doze off.

* * *

'Back so soon, Louise?'

'Five more minutes!' The noble groaned , shifting to a fetal position. _Seriously, give me a rest!_ And the tone! That maid had the gall to address her so lightly, what she said didn't make any sense whatsoever. _Back from where?_ She was the one who got kidnapped. And the voice: smooth and masclu—that wasn't Siesta.

She shot up abruptly, the first thing she noticed was the white walls, and then Kane, smiling peacefully across her, posture relaxed. 'A rough day?' Kane tried again.

Louise shifted in her seat, 'N-no—I mean yes.' She stammered. _Why did this man command such a frightening aura?_

'Well?' He smiled, hands clasped together neatly on his thigh.

Louise took it as her cue to fill Kane in and so she proceeded to recount the earlier events of the day. Kane listened intently as she recalled the memories. From the first step she took off the emissary till the point she fired the shot that allowed them to escape.

Kane grinned widely, was he proud of her? Louise looked away, the walls appeared quite aesthetic at the moment. 'Louise! I knew you had it in you!' Kane stood, arms wide. Of all the reactions she expected, she didn't thought he'd be ecstatic. It was… _nice_.

'Why the expression?' The question brought Louise out from her thoughts. 'I… Simply didn't think you'd react this way.' She replied honestly.

'And how did you think I was going to react?' A playful smiled played on his lips. 'Did you expect me to be cross?' He shook his head as he poured himself a cup of tea and brought it to his lips. 'I cannot be cross with a prophet that cares for her people, Louise.'

He took a careful sip and exhaled. 'The Brotherhood in all it's years of operation depended on it's loyal members, I mean, think about it Louise. As a noble, how would a country run without it's people?' He nodded knowingly when Louise stayed quiet. 'You've done the brotherhood a great service, that will undoubtedly help you with your endeavours in the future, Louise. Those three you've saved will be an excellent addition.'

'I don't know if they'll join.' She said, rubbing her arm nervously. She didn't have a silver tongue to speak of, no skills for anyone to look up to.

He hunched forward, 'This Count, you've told me about. He reminds me of the people we have here; They call themselves the GDI, Global Defense Initiative. Don't let that name fool you, they're as every bit as corrupt as your Count.' He set the cup on the table.

'As tiberium ravaged our world, the GDI claimed the safe zones for their own, throwing the undesirables out to the yellow and red zones. That was their first mistake, and one that I would gladly thank them for. They gave the people in the red and yellow zones a reason to fight and I gave them the means and I even rewarded them for it.'

He looked at a device on his wrist, before turning back to Louise. 'Our time draws short, remember what I've said, Louise.'

'W-wait! I don't know about this! I want to go back!' She shot out from her seat.

'Now, Louise.' Kane tutted, causing her to feel a sudden wave of embarrassment. 'Remember what'll happen if you do. This is a gift Louise, don't squander it like the GDI have.'

'B-but… This is…' She stared at the white floor, _this was all too difficult…_ It was only luck that saw her through her previous predicament.

The older prophet stood straight, seemingly ignoring her outburst. 'Faith undivided, Louise. Glory to the Brotherhood.' Kane announced, fist over his chest; face solemn and resolute.

Louise cracked a wavering smile, discarded everything that was going in her mind, and mirrored his actions. 'G-glory to the Brotherhood…' She replied, voice cracking slightly. Kane returned the smile, and then bright light engulfed her vision.

 _He was proud of me._

* * *

 _AN: My country banned . Had to use VPN, being worthless with tech, I got caught with all the technicalities._

 _Leave a comment on how bad this is. I wont mind. I left this fic for **too** long._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 : Control The Media, Control The Mind**

Count Mott was furious, and rightfully so. His home invaded, his staff taken away from him and the useless mages from the academy took away his attention from his first night with the twin-tailed beauty. _Curses! A million curses!_

And to think, that little rogue Valliere would have the gall to infiltrate his domain in the first place was unthinkable. He had regret laughing at the thought when Colbert and his retinue came knocking on his door to inform him of the rogue noble and her possible intentions.

He'd bet a hundred ecus Colbert didn't think she'd be mad enough to kidnap his new additions on the same night. _A hundred million curses!_ _That heretic maid and the heretic noble,_ he thought bitterly as he laid a gloved hand on his neck. It was embarassing to be so easily snuffed by a brat that size.

"We need to follow her right away." Kirche began, arms crossed over her bountiful chest. Colbert shook his head,"We can't risk it yet, we have to go back to the academy and get more hands on this matter."

"But professor!-" Her hands shot on the coffee table, where they were conversing amongst themselves. Mott had delegated himself to his own desk, licking his own wounds.

"The Professor is right, Louise's familiar might have more surprises for us along the way. We could all be trapped or worse." Alferink proposed, eyes shut and leaning back against the sofa.

"Four-two-four is crafty." Tabitha brought their attention to her with a knock of her staff, "Sylphid and me will scout the route."

Colbert hummed, but didn't say anything, Alferink adjusted his glasses, the red-headed Germanian smiled at her friend and Mott couldn't care less about what they wanted to do, the faster they got out of his home the better.

"That wil be good, Miss Tabitha." Colbert said, stroking his chin. "You see the first sign of trouble double back, alright?"

Tabitha nodded in affirmation, the door clicked behind her. "What about me?" Kirche asked.

"You'll have to stay with us, Miss Zerbst. We'll go back to the Academy to inform the Headmaster what happened." Colbert replied, he suppressed a sigh. Osmond wouldn't like what he had to report that was sure.

Colbert moved his attention to the Count, who was touching the area where Louise's dart had hit. He was a wildcard, truth be told, Colbert didn't want him to be involved in the matter entirely. However, Louise's very presence in his mansion the night of the kidnap was unforeseeable, Colbert had thought the Valliere would take her time, learn the lay of the land before attempting anything.

It seems that Miss Tabitha was right on the money yet again, Miss Louise's familiar was a tough one. A tactician, and a golem. A perfect commander if anyone asked him. And it was taking an effect on small Louise.

"I'll have to report this to the inquisition." Mott's voice brought Colbert out of his musings.

"The Inquisition? Pray tell, why?" Colbert controlled his voice.

"The maid that our rogue noble took, she was sputtering heretical nonsense. Claiming Louise as the Prophet to Brimir or some such." Mott grumbled from his desk.

"While that may be in accordance with your rights, Count. We can deal with this ourselves." Colbert reasoned, simultaneously cursing under his breath. Why did the maid do this? This was all getting out of hand quickly.

"We could." He began,"But I'd rather the little brat and the heretic maid be punished quickly by the inquisition than get my hands dirty chasing her through the dirt." He finished, swiping his hand on his throat and wincing.

"That'd bring more trouble than it's worth, Count." Colbert kept his voice leveled. "Imagine the interrogations that would follow when they hear the maid has been under your custody." Count Mott winced again. "It'll take more than a month for them to scrub the whole household clean." Colbert bit back a victorious grin, he had Mott now.

Mott groaned in exasperation, "Fine, have it your way, Colbert, but I want the rogue mage in chains and my maids back!"

"You'll have them back, and as for Miss Valliere, she is under her wayward familiar's influence and so is the maid. Once we eliminate it from the equation they should be free from it's control." Colbert said, Alferink shot him a look. A look that said _'are you even sure, Colbert?'_

 _It's the only hope we have,_ Colbert thought. There was no way to be absolutely sure that Miss Louise was under her familiar's influence, other than to ask her in person. So clinging on to the hope that destroying or capturing her familiar would dispel it's hand on it's master and the maids was all they had.

 _By Brimir, I hope I'm right._

* * *

Four-two-four watched the maids while Louise had slept, feeling proud and satisfied that Siesta could be relied on to spread the word of Louise so quickly and efficiently. Despite their numbers only increased by three, Four-two-four viewed these three with great regard. The prophet didn't require a vast army yet.

Only capabable and loyal commanders, and that is what Four-two-four planned to mold the three maids into.

Siesta meanwhile had retreated into the barracks, Four-two-four guiding her through the modern day showers and food. Now, she was holding a Nod uniform in each hand. Perhaps calculating which one would fit her best. If she had asked for it's opinion then Four-two-four would recommend the one on the right, it wouldn't restrict her bosom as much as the other one or the impractical maid uniform she wore.

"Let us out!" A voice grabbed Four-two-four's attention, one of the maids, was shouting against the door of their cell. It wanted to place them somewhere more hospitable, however most rooms had weapons hidden somewhere, it couldn't risk it.

"Good job, Odette." The maid spoke again, slower this time, as she sat herself on a bed."We traded one prison for another." She sighed, brushing away her brown hair.

"Siesta-" Odette began,"Siesta! That whore! She betrayed us! I knew she would! Heretic!" The brunette interjected, fingers gripping the bedsheets.

"G-guys, please." On the far corner, the third maid with red hair fashioned into twin-tails chimed in. The cell fell into an uncomfortable silence. They were still on the fence regarding Louise's true calling that was certain.

"Sorry," The brunette apologized, "We can't stay here, we've-I've finally landed a good job! And now...now... Damn it!"

Odette moved beside her, rubbing her back to calm the woman. "I know... It's what you've been looking for for a long time."

The brunette sniffled from the contact, walls breaking down. A quick scan showed how fragile her mental state was, she was teetering on the edge of insanity. High levels of stress would've done her in months ago, Four-two-four felt rather curious to see what was holding her together by the threads.

 _ **More data needed.**_

The other two had not displayed their motivations yet, but it had an inkling of what propelled the brunette. For now, it continued to observe and record it findings.

Four-two-four turned away it's attention from the cell and to the war-room where Prophet Louise was beginning to rouse from her nap. The noble yawned and stretched against the chair, "Is Siesta here yet?"

 **"She is on her way."** Four-two-four informed her as she slipped off her thick gloves.

 **"Prophet, it is safe to assume that the Academy will send a force to our position."** It said.

"But they won't until for a few days, right?" The prophet queried, fingers tapping on the table. The elevator opened, revealing a fresh Siesta clad in a leather suit reminding Four-two-four too much of the traitor Killian. She strutted up to a blushing Louise, "Not for a few weeks I think," Siesta said standing beside the prophet, hands clasped firmly infront.

"Brimir's beard, Siesta! Are you even wearing anything?!" The Prophet's face almost resembled the colour of her hair. In response, Siesta twirled on the spot, furthering the blush on Louise's face.

"Do you like it, Louise? I tried the one you were wearing but it just didn't feel right." Siesta said.

"T-tch..." The flustered noble turned away, "T-to business, why do you say it'll take a week?"

"Oh," Siesta said, deflated. "Before I got _taken_ by the count, we had been informed that the Princess will be coming sometime this month."

"PRINCESS HENRIETTA?" The prophet jumped from her seat, hands on the table.

"The same one, yes." Siesta affirmed, bowing her head slightly.

 **"Is she of any importance, prophet?"** Four-two-four decided to voice in, it was peculiar seeing the Prophet this excited over someone, for as long as it had known the prophet, she held no love for anyone except for her sister.

Louise stammered, sinking back into the chair, "I-Uh, well, she is the Princess! And... We have to meet her! I'll clear this up! I'll clear everything up! She'll trust me!"

It did not surprise Four-two-four that the prophet still clung to her previous ideologies. The Prophet was still reluctant to believe in the cause. Four-two-four made itself apparent through the hologram, it shook it's head in dismay. **"Prophet, it is a dangerous and needless risk. If the Princess does not believe a word you say, then that word can easily be used against you, she is royalty; The inquisition will be quick on our heels at her command."**

Hearing it's reasoning, Louise sunk into the chair further, exhaling a deep breath. "I had only wanted to meet her." She said meekly.

"Is she a friend, Louise?" Siesta asked and Louise nodded, almost unnoticeably; Prompting the maid to touch the prophet's hand. Four-two-four made itself scarce, it's hologram disappearing from view. As soon as it did, Louise looked up, shyly. "I'll be your friend, Louise."

A tear ran down the Prophet's face but Siesta hadn't noticed it, for the familiar however it was as bright as day; and for a moment, Four-two-four felt... _guilty?_ She was merely a teenager, entrusted with a duty.. a gift. Had it been pushing the Prophet too hard? It was all so difficult with Louise, her vast array of emotions was unorthodox. Never had it faced with a commander nor a prophet that sported such a wild personality, not even when it had to face Killian.

"I could sneak us in..." Siesta began, and Louise was on the edge of her seat again.

 **"At our current level, it would be very difficult to slip past the defenses."** Four-two-four responded, hologram appearing on the table.

"I mean-" Siesta opened her mouth, but Louise interjected quickly.

"No, no... What Four-two-four said is right. I need to think critically, what's best for the-" Four-two-four could almost hear the prophet gulp, "Brotherhood... and it's interests."

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to see the princess." Siesta murmured, shifting on her feet.

"I… Appreciate that but that all can wait, I want to clean up, eat and sleep." Louise grumbled, her cheeks a shade of pink. "What else do you have for us, Four-two-four?"

 **"The three maids are under my observation, it seems they need further... convincing of the Brotherhood. The yard, meanwhile, is currently is free of tasks. The barracks have also a few beds to fill."**

"What are you going to fill it with? It's not like the villagers or soldiers from around Tristain's going to walk to the base and join us." The prophet snorted.

 **"We have detected a few human camps near our position, I suggest we round them and make them bend the knee so to speak."** Four-two-four said, and after a moment added, **"Or, turn them into the awakened."**

The Prophet reacted how it predicted she would, a look of disgust immediately rose on her face, a palm slamming on the table. "No! I won't do that! We'll make them bend the knee!It's either that or die from the monsters no turning them into awakened."

 **"Very well, Prophet."** Luckily for Four-two-four it was incapabable of showing disappointment through it's speech.

"And as for the yard... " Louise's fingers tapped on the interface, "The shredder turret, place them here." She pointed on the live map. The area provided a clear line of sight throught the forest opening where carriages could roll through. The trees facing the turrets were also spread apart, allowing easy target recognition.

 **"Strategic location."** Louise blushed at the compliment. **"Building in progress."**

"My lady, let me take care of the maids." Siesta said, hand raised on her chest. "It would be a great honor to train the next line of NOD's loyal followers."

"Fine, do whatever." Louise was up, and began to make way for the exit before stopping half-way. "No, on the second thought, don't do whatever. Do things... Within reason..." She corrected, before embarking the elevator.

Leaving Four-two-four with a grinning Siesta, a fist still over her chest. "Four-two-four, may I be granted full custody of the maids?"

 **"Access granted, you have permission to pass through most of the doors in the compound."**

"Thank you, Four-two-four." Siesta said, as she walked out from the room. Leaving Four-two-four to sift through the newly acquired data. It was a waste to let the brigands free, they could've been a great addition to Louise's army. It couldn't go against the prophet's wishes however, but perhaps in the future it could convince her to discard her morals.

Time will tell if Louise could follow the Brotherhood the old fashioned way or through her own ideals, in any case, Four-two-four would make sure it was there for her.

* * *

Odette sighed, expelling the stress from her veins. She was laying on her own bed in the small cell where Siesta had taken them. The matress was surprisingly soft, softer than anything she had ever laid on, even her own bed before Count Mott.

Her own bed... _When was that? five years ago?_ She sighed again. Time in the Count's service had not been kind on her, the food was alright and she appreciated the company from her fellow workers... The treatment from her employer however, was another matter. She, along with everyone else in his charge hated him.

Odette slung her arm around her eyes, blocking the dim light from view. At least this cell was infinitely better than the one in the Count's Mansion. It had some measure of privacy and the fact that their captor was a Lady assured her as well. Siesta had only uttered good things about the noble, that was worrying in its own right.

She had probably praised the woman like she was divine. Hell, she practically was. With all the prophet business she was on about.

The head maid didn't realize she had dozed off till the next morning until a knock came on the door, followed by Siesta's voice, "Hello?" Odette rose from the bed and went over to the door, it slid open; revealing the newly inducted maid, Siesta in rather tight leathers. Odette would even consider them men's clothes if not for the precise fitting.

"Siesta? What are you wearing?" Odette asked, prompting Siesta to giggle.

"That's the first thing you ask me?" She covered her mouth. "I don't know, it was in my wardrobe."

Odette smiled softly, "It look's good on you, truth be told, brings out your _looks_." She winked.

Siesta gasped, " _Odette!_ " She playfully poked, "I didn't come here to be teased!"

"Well, what did you come here for then, Siesta?" Odette chuckled.

"I'll be frank with you... We want you to join the Brotherhood of NOD." Siesta said, her eyes held a look of steel that Odette only found in soldiers. Displayed perfectly on her chest was a pendant with a scorpion tail, the logo that they've seen everywhere ever since they've exited the carriage.

"I-I can do that... But let these two free." She tried to reason, Odette considered herself old; She was thirty-two now, young-still but at this age there was little else she could do but be a maid, that and she didn't have anymore ties. Her family had long forgotten about her. The same couldn't be said about the other two, she spared them both a glance.

They were sleeping soundly in their beds, blankets up till their faces upon finding that it was rather cold in the room despite the warm weather.

Siesta shook her head, "This offer extends to all of you." Odette shivered from the tone of her voice. She didn't dare ask what would happen if they refused.

Odette sighed, "I'll join Lady Louise... But I can't say the same for the others."

In response, Siesta clapped her hands together, standing on one foot; a giddy grin on her face. "That's great! Lady Louise would really like the extra company. Not that she gets tired of me of course." Odette merely nodded, something told her that Lady Louise did indeed tire her company.

"Well!" Siesta clapped her hands again, "Let's relocate all of you to better quarters."

"I don't want to wake them, they've had a hard night" Odette replied, the maids had been through much and seen the equal share. Odette couldn't ask more of them even if she wanted to, especially Charlotte who had been sitting in the cell for almost two days without any meaningful sleep.

" _Right._ " Siesta said solemnly, "Charlotte, I know you're awake."

At the mention of her name the maid grumbled and tussled in her bed, "Hard not to be awake when youre clapping like a mad heretic."

"Oh, you're awake." Odette said lamely, "I hope you had a good few winks in."

Charlotte yawned and stretched like a cat, her belly peeking from the ruffled uniform, "The best." Was all she said before snuggling up to the pillow again.

"We have better beds than that you know..." Siesta coaxed, "And food, the food is great too. You just need to swear your loyalty to Lady Louise."

"I won't be branded a heretic!" Charlotte said, voice muffled by the pillow.

Odette moved to sit on her own bed, juggling the options she had on hand. It was a no-brainer really. The things Lady Louise was offering was acceptable, in return for simple loyalty. It wasn't like Odette had anything else to lose... Except maybe Lady Louise if Count Mott planned to exact his revenge.

"Just loyalty?" Odette queried.

Siesta looked down, eyes soft. "Just loyalty... Your service will be rewarded on it's own."

Then that was it, "I won't back down, I'll join Lady Louise." Odette said again, more resolute.

Across her, Charlotte had shot up from the bed, hands outstretched as if to strangle her. "Odette! What are you doing?!" Her voice quivered.

"Lady Louise saved us, Charlotte... And I don't really care for what Gods they preach or pray to. It seems so much better to be serving Lady Louise than the Count right now." Odette replied, teeth biting into her lip. Did she truly not care if these people worshipped Lady Louise? There was still a touch of her that said it was wrong... But how could something so wrong be so right?

"But that goes against everything we've been taught about!" Charlotte was standing now, looking down on her. On the corner of her eye she saw Lilian moving in her bed, Charlotte did always have a trouble controlling her voice.

"What you've been taught about is nothing but _lies!"_ Siesta butted in, wedging herself in between them. "Don't you see? In all our lives we've pledged ourselves to the nobles... To our supposed betters, so that they'll take care of us, teach us and guide us." The maid continued, and the room seemed to glow in tune with her words.

"But all they've shown us is how cruel they can be!" Siesta jabbed a finger at her own face, the bruise marks still decorated her cheeks. Charlotte visibly winced, and so did Odette. She felt pity for the soldiers that had done it to poor Siesta... The threats Mott must've used to make loyal footmen of Tristania stoop so low must've been severe.

Charlotte backed down, huffing as she took seat on the edge of her bed. "And what's so different about Louise? For all I know she's just some Valliere kid."

At that, Siesta smiled, and began weaving her tale, "You see, our Great Prophet Louise..." it was as if Odette was sitting in the church pew again, like she used to when she was nine with her parents; listening to the preacher. Siesta would've made a great preacher, her tone of voice was perfect, posture immaculate and knowledge on the subject peerless; even recounting what Louise had worn and what expression was on the noble's face.

When Siesta was done, that'd left them both speechless. Charlotte was still grasping at the idea of commoners such as them leading armies and people; the ingenuity of people beyond their realm, transcends even the nobles of Halkeginia!

But were her stories true? Odette could easily believe so, after all, they had been brought here by a self-propelled carriage.

"Wow..." Odette turned her head to see Liliana on her bed, lips parted and eyes blinking rapidly.

Odette brushed her palm across her face, it seems like all three had learned of their captors story. "I don't need further convincing, Siesta." Odette said, "As long as the commoners of the land receive justice they're due, I'll gladly serve the Lady."

"Now wait just a moment!" Charlotte spoke, "Y-you can't just... I mean it does sound good..." She stuttered, Odette reached out to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear. "Play to their tune first, alright? If it doesnt suit you, then we can sneak out and run to the nearest town."

Odette knew there was a slim chance of that working out, the whole building was alive if she understood Siesta right. The voice inside the carriage was the voice of the spirit that lived in the building or some sort and was bound to Lady Louise. It could basically see everything... and hear everything.

To her relief, Charlotte nodded. Odette looked over her shoulder to see Lilian giving her a thumbs up. Then that was it, turning to a smiling Siesta she said, "We'll work for Lady Louise." It was an easy decision for her to make considering the circumstances and the non-existent alternative.

Odette just hoped it didn't come back and bite her in the rear.

"That's great!" Siesta chirped and opened the door behind her. Ushering them all with a hand, "Come! Let's meet Louise! She'll be happy to hear that you've decided to join."

* * *

Siesta had led them through long corridors and hallways, lit only by panels of dim red lights and the occasional white. It was rather eerie, the air would gush from crevices and doors for no reason and there was the hum of something deeper in the confines of the building. Like a constant reverbrating noise. It was like walking through a living cave, that was the closest thing to it, Odette could imagine.

They were brought into what Siesta called the war-room via an _elevator_ , it was a wide room, filled with desks arranged in neat rows before a large marble-like table. The overall aesthetic was a black and red, with a few pinkish lines. On the far side of the room was a glass window, overlooking the yard.

Odette almost didn't realize Louise-No-The Lady was sitting at the table, in more relaxed clothing, a simple black top and the rest hidden by the table. Her hair was fashioned into a ponytail. Her bangs were still damp, evidently, Louise had just come out of a bath.

"Siesta." The lady said, her face was unreadable, "Why did you bring them here?" In fact, it almost sounded like she was annoyed, as if she had her teeth grounded together as she spoke.

"Why, my Lady! They had come to say their vows!" Siesta said, unbelievably unaware of the noble's changing mood.

"That's quick." The Lady said, surprise clouding the fury beneath her words.

"I serve to please, my Lady." SIesta said with a playful hint and a curtsy, only to earn an eye roll and a grumble from Louise.

"So what did Siesta promise you?" She turned her attention to Odette and the maids flanking her, the pinkette's gaze was solely on them. Odette bowed her head instinctively, slightly perturbed by the look in Louise's eyes. "Ecus? Power?" Her tone was almost chiding them, prodding for a response.

Siesta merely tutted, "My prophet! They're here to swear loyalty to you, and in return they seek justice and fairness."

"That is right, my lady." Odette spoke, hands balled into fists. "I want a change... and Siesta says you're the one to change the world." For far too long... Far too long she had sat in stagnation. Bowing and nodding to Mott's every whim... No longer!

"If Odette's going in, I'm signing up as well." Charlotte said beside her, it felt touching to hear those words from the brunette. She was always so head strong, sometimes arrogant. But to hear Charlotte join just because she did...

"I got nothing to lose, w-why not." This time Liliana chimed in, almost too happily. Odette saw the look Charlotte sent the red-haired girl but said nothing.

The Lady bit her lip, frowning. Odette knew it was out of turn but it didn't sit right with her if she had unknowingly displeased her would-be master. "Did I displease you, my Lady?"

"No, you did not." She answered simply, then straightened her back. "If it's this easy for you to change sides then I fear it'd be as easy to do the same in the future."

Charlotte exhaled sharply beside her, and Odette willed herself not to nudge the other maid with her elbow. "Is that not the function of vows, my lady? To prevent us from being disloyal?" Odette said, calmly. All these years sucking up to Mott did serve something.

"How good were your vows to Mott?"

Odette tensed, "We wouldn't have to break our vows if he was a good master in the first place, my Lady." She was pleased with her own answer; it didn't come out aggressively. Merely as a fact. Siesta had stayed quiet the whole exchange, for some reason Odette couldnt understand, perhaps it was a holy rite for the lady to question her staff.

"Very well." the Lady said with a sigh, and a flick of her wrist. "Get on with it,"

"Thank you, your Eminence." Siesta bowed, at that the Lady seemed to choke on air. But Siesta had paid no mind and turned around to face them. "Repeat after me." She said as she brought her hand into a fist over her breast.

"I am a loyal servant of the Prophet," She began, and Odette repeated easily. She noted how Charlotte had hesitated for a moment but said it with gritted teeth. "The bringers of the new dawn," Liliana's voice had always been high-pitched, something that had to do with her lithe form, Odette had always found it endearing. But the Liliana speaking wasn't the adorable Liliana, but a girl emboldened by something bigger than life itself. Her voice stead-fast as she repeated the words.

"The followers of the brilliant crystals." _Crystals._ There it was again, something Siesta had said before, but she had never saw the crystal anywhere despite apparently being so important. "We serve to protect the Brotherhood of NOD, and it's holy relics, and uphold it's values." Siesta's gaze was piercing, though Odette knew she wasn't looking at anyone particular, it was as if she was staring at all three of them at once.

"Long live the brotherhood and the glorious prophet, Louise Francoise de La Valliere! Peace through power!" The words glided effortlessly from Odette, the whole building reverberated. The vibrant hum in the background flaring momentarily, as if repeating the last words with them.

 **"Peace through power."**

A thick voice announced, the same voice from the carriage. Over to Louise, a bodiless apparition appeared above the table. Odette gulped, but held-fast.

Lilianna jumped, actually jumped from the sight of a bodiless man, his eyes an abyss of blue and his skull perfectly sculpted. Charlotte didn't say anything, perhaps frightened to the point of speechlessness.

 **"A rather adequate induction ceremony, Siesta."** The head complimented the said maid, whom replied with only a smile and a nod of her head. In all of her years of service she never once made the staff under her swore vows. That was left to the Count. The practice was dry an uneventful, usually involving a quill and parchment and then introduction to his bedchambers for some reason she couldn't fathom at the time.

She was wiser now, and having going through the words Siesta made her swore had an effect on her, at least on a subconscious level. Odette would try her damnedest to uphold her vows.

"How do you even find the time..." The lady said, mouth agape. It appeared to Odette as if Louise herself didn't truly believe she and the rest would join her. If only Odette knew how close she was to the truth.

Siesta twirled and sighed dramatically, "It's all I could think about in the cell, locked up and unable to do anything." That was a gross understatement, she had been praying and muttering litanies that even rivaled the ones in a church.

Louise's face was beet red upon hearing the reply, her brows conjoined in a mask of fury. "Grrr! Stop spewing nonsense in public! You're getting ME in trouble!" The Lady screeched, teeth gritted.

Odette heard Charlotte snicker, satisfied that even Louise didn't share Siesta's sentiment. At least not by that much. "I'll try and tone it down, your eminence." Siesta bowed again, her tone changed.

The lady huffed, "Good, now for the rest of you... what can you guys do?" Her eyes were narrowed, scanning them. Seizing their worth to her. What could she say? She was a maid; they were all maids. Odette felt rather conscious of her appearance at that moment and how she might've appeared to her new master; all ruffled and dirty. Just what else could she offer? The lady needed men, strong men that could shake the very foundations of the country. Not them...

"I can... do archery a bit, your ladyness." It was Liliana, sweet little Liliana and her archery. Odette had never seen her with a bow and arrow. But she always did love to share stories of her family; going out hunting with her brothers like a pack of wolves.

"Woodworking." Charlotte stated, "Give me an axe and tools, I'll make anything." The Germanian-born maid was confident, her strong suit. Louise bit her lip, but nodded anyway.

Then her gaze turned to Odette, seemingly the leader of the pact just because she stood in the middle. She doused the urge to panic, experience holding her together. She had survived Count Mott, she wasn't going to break down in front of a little girl half her age. "I'm a good cook." Odette said, lamely.

 _Damn it!_

Louise broke eye contact, and shrugged her shoulders. "Great." Hearing the word felt like a massive waterfall had cascaded upon her soiled form, cleansing her of her burdens and worries. Perhaps she had overestimated Louise's expectations. She required a full staff after-all, and that meant cooks too! Odette held in a breath, cautious not to seem overjoyed.

"Go rest and clean up, I'm sure I'll have something for you to do then." Louise said, waving them away. Oh finally, Odette couldn't wait to be rid of her current uniform. It was beginning to stick to her body. What wonders await!

"Come on, I'll show you to your quarters! For real this time." Siesta announced, pivoted on her heels and walked away. Charlotte huffed behind her, the last time they followed Siesta she'd all but lock her up inside another cell.

This time though, they were all hopeful.

* * *

When the elevator doors had closed, Louise promptly buried her face on the table. "They're maids!" She groaned, "Maids!" Her legs kicking the table underneath. Louise was surprised they had even considered joining her worthless cause, but that was due to the stupid heretical maid and her silver tongue. She could probably slither her way out of Mott's fingers if she had wanted now she'd thought about it.

But why did Louise think they'd be worth something in the first place? She groaned again. _I'm leading a rebellion, and all I have with me are maids!_ _I should've kidnapped the soldiers instead._ She slammed a fist into the table and exhaled.

No use thinking about it now, she supposed. Leaning back, she sought to divert her mind somewhere else. On the topic of the Princess; _How long has it been since I last met her? Does she even still consider us friends? Does she remember me even?_ Those questions cycled in her mind. Questions that she'd find no answer to.

Her familiar said was right of course, she shouldn't be waltzing into the academy nonchalantly after all those things she had done. Right now, Louise had to put personal feelings behind. _Rule of steel. Tch._

 _That didn't help the slightest_. Remembering her mother's words only pained her, the steely gaze of the older Valliere piercing through her mental shroud. She forced her thoughts to wander somewhere else, back to yesterday; Kane. She'd never thought she'd be comfortable in his presence, in fact she found herself wanting to be near him. Hear him praise her work, acknowledge her as a person and her achievements.

He was a person in the same predicament as her; but he chose to embrace it. Though Louise had embraced her position somewhat, she knew deep inside this was all still so wrong. But Kane however, had embraced it wholly. Recognized his position and responsibilities like a true noble, without the benefits of magical powers that came with the title… Yet he thrived.

 _People are the power._

Louise stared at the elevator doors… Liliana or Trails as she liked to call her, sounded competent with a bow, if her confidence is anything to go by. Charlotte, a _Germanian,_ Louise puffed, claimed she was good with tools. That wasn't far-fetched, she could easily believe her. Germanian families always taught their offspring useful talents. _Except for Zerbst_ , Louise added.

Odette however… A cook? She could use a cook in the mess hall… Perhaps to prepare the M.R.E's, Four-two-four said they tasted better when prepared. She was also rather… beautiful for a commoner. High cheek bones, small dainty lips and a sharp nose complimented with piercing eyes. She'd make a great noble if that were possible.

That didn't change the fact that she wanted generals… Louise _needed_ generals. As much as she valued Four-two-four's input, he was a golem and had the rationale of one. She needed a human, Louise had already considered Siesta as her advisor, and the maid knew it. But a great leader required multiple generals and advisors.

 _Perhaps I could just train them? That'd take too long!_ She massaged the bridge her nose.

" **Is something bothering you, Prophet?"** Four-two-four asked, no doubt had been observing her acting oddly for the past minute.

She looked up, "Did you not hear me? They're maids!" She groaned, and proceeded to bury her face in her palms.

" **Understandable."** Did it understand? **"They're weak, talentless and craven."**

"I wouldn't take it that far no." Louise was taken aback by Four-two-four's honesty. _And how did it see me? I'm equally weak._ "I need _soldiers…_ Nobles! To fight this unwinnable war."

" **Why fight when it is unwinnable?"** Four-two-four said, **"Kane often said the same thing to the GDI's attempts, however it seems like small victories granted them hope. Perhaps that is what we shall do, Prophet."**

"Huh?" Louise blurted, she was still pondering on the ' _Why fight when it's unwinnable'_ part.

" **Small hopes."** Four-two-four repeated. **"Meet us in the Hand of Nod, level U-14."** It said, Louise couldn't help but feel giddy for some reason. _What machinations does my familiar have for me now?_

Louise walked all the way to the Hand of Nod, they had mowed down the field that was blocking the way, clearing a straight path to the adjacent building. The entrance was desolate as was the entire base, she was greeted by Four-two-four at the elevators; where it had disclosed to her that the maids had taken residency at level U-2. She chose not to disturb them now, they sorely needed the rest.

The elevators opened with a hiss, wisps of air gushing from the sides as she exited. The corridor lit up slowly, lights flickering to life as she walked further within. Louise went to the instructed room called 'Simulations'. Inside there were some sort of beds, with a door-like hatch neatly aligned in rows on either sides of the room.

"Okay, so what is this?" Louise asked.

" **The simulations room."** Well of course, the simulations room. She can read for Brimir's sake.

"I mean, what does it simulate?" She rephrased as she went about the aisle.

" **Battle conditions, weapon training manuals, confessor training modules…"** Four-two-four droned on until Louise barked for to stop.

"Alright! I get it. So what? I just plop in here and I know everything?" She raised a brow, curiously. This machine would come in handy indeed.

Four-two-four elicited something akin to Louise could only describe as a cough and a snicker. **"We did not specify that it would be you, Prophet."**

Louise peered through the glass window as the first pod closed with a discernible hiss, its occupant: Lilliana appearing shaken but made no sign to stop the process. She proved to be the most adventurous of the three, volunteering to be the first to test this contraption. "What will happen in there, familiar?" Louise asked.

" **She will experience battle, learn concepts that would take too long to teach among other things."** It explained.

"We wont be able to see what she sees?" Louise asked, looking for a display panel nearby, there were numerous displays, none seem to do anything except having lines of words.

" **Negative."**

 _Fair enough._ Louise thought. Until then she'll just have to occupy her time with something productive, like having a meal. She wholeheartedly agreed with that notion. She quickly made way to the mess hall on U-3.

It shouldn't be a surprise that Odette and Charlotte was there, along with Siesta; enjoying their respective meals. Louise picked out her own from the cabinets, once she was satisfied she went out to the mess, Louise stopped stiff at the kitchen doors. Should she sit with them? Or should she sit all by her lonesome self? What kind of leader would she be if she chose the latter?

Thankfully, Siesta noticed her conundrum and waved, "Lady Louise! Please join us!"

She composed herself and brought her tray to their table. Odette eyed her large stack of food curiously, seeing no need to explain herself, she began to unwrap and prepare before digging in with all the grace she could muster. As usual, the food was delectable but not palace worthy, but she hardly lived in palace in the first place.

Across her, Charlotte sat, staring at the food that sat atop her spoon curiously. "This is delicious." She muttered, loud enough for the entire table to hear.

"What did I tell you?" Siesta said, smiling smugly.

Louise listened in on their conversation, one would think she was merely being an arrogant noble and refusing to talk to them. But she was learning, taking notes of what topics commoners discussed. She had never been in a meal with them before, and felt embarrassing how she could not bring up a particular subject to breach.

"My lady, I apologize for interrupting you," It was Odette, "Thank you for sharing a meal with us, and thank you again, for accepting us." Her tone was sincere. "If I may ask, is Liliana okay?" Odette had thought Louse had brought Liliana along but was disappointed to see the noble exiting the elevator alone.

"Don't mention it, it's my duty as a noble to see the people are taken care of." Louise replied as practiced all those years ago. She scooped a spoonful of minced beef "She'll be alright, my familiar is taking care of her as we speak." She replied.

"That's a relief," Odette sighed and continued eating.

Louise swallowed, "I suppose I should thank you as well." She said quietly, fiddling with the food on her tray with a spoon. The table plunged into a silence, even Charlotte stopped her noisy munching. Why were they reacting like so? Was she wrong to thank them? _Ungrat—_

"Why my Lady! You're welcome! It's always an honor to serve the pr—"

"Shut it" Louise cut off Siesta, _always the overly-eager one_.

Odette chuckled at their antics, it had been awhile since she had seen harmless banter. Charlotte was looking away from it all, a slight pink tint on her cheeks. "Since we're all exchanging thank yous, I guess I owe it to you too, Lady Valliere… or should I say My Lady." Charlotte said, sounding dangerously close like the Zerbst.

Louise smirked, "Perhaps a more fitting title would be _Prophet._ " Charlotte choked on her meal and repeatedly pounded her chest. Odette paid Charlotte no mind, she did kind of deserved it after all for being snarky with Louise after all the Lady had done. Siesta was grinning, like a mad cat, _Louise was on her way!_

Louise was joking of course, but that didn't register with Siesta. "Prophet! Glory to you! Huzzah! Huzzah!" The maid thumped her fists on the table, still gripping her eating utensils. The noble sighed and continued eating.

"How do you live with her?" Charlotte wheezed, causing the maid in question to stop and glare at the Germanian.

"Now I know how Lady Louise feels being pestered by a Germanian." She retorted, biting a chunk out of a piece of meat. It was embarrassing to see the two maids argue; Idly, Louise wondered herself if this was how Tabitha felt when Louise and Zerbst got into their bouts.

Louise opened her mouth to stop the foolery but Odette was faster, "Look at yourselves," They stopped bickering and quietly resumed eating, readying themselves for Odette's lecture. "Squabbling like petty children in the presence of her Eminence."

 _Her Eminence._ Louise coughed up the tea she was drinking. "Em-ugh-Eminence?!" She sputtered, "Siesta! Stop giving my new staff ideas!" Louise wiped her lips with a napkin, glaring at the maid beside her. Siesta giggled, earning a quick elbow prod from an annoyed Louise. "Be grateful Im even sitting with you!" She fumed, but slowly tempered down when she remembered one important part about Siesta. "How is your face?"

"It's feeling alright," She nodded. "Four-two-four instructed me to administer a first aid kit." Louise resisted the urge to snort. _Does she even know what she's talking about?_ None the less, Louise was relieved with the answer. Her bruises were disappearing that was sure.

After the meal was done, Louise went to inspecting the shredder turret once Four-two-four announced it was finished. She found out she had to pick out spots for the individual turrets herself, and so she aligned them neatly to each other, spaced apart appropriately in case of a magical bombardment. She'd read enough of fire mages lobbing balls of fire down from the sky to prepare for them.

Four-two-four had told her that the turrets were connected to the central hub via underground cords; the latter was to hide them from view; then why not just hide the central hub in the ground with the cords as well? Perhaps they needed to revaluate the design. When she asked Four-two-four regarding the matter it simply went silent for a long time until it answered **'Unknown.'**

So she dropped the subject and moved on to inspecting the finished product. It stood at possibly had the design of a cannon or a musket. Gun barrels aligned the turret, there were twelve of them; six on each arm. The barrels were moderately sized, not as big as a cannon from a ship but from the sheer number of the gun barrels alone it might make opponents quiver.

The turrets swivelled from side to side slowly, Louise looked past the trees on the other side, she wished some orcs would show up so she'd see how the shredder worked. Probably fired iron or some sort at them like the vast majority of propelled weapons. But still, it was a sight to see. Now that she had defences, she needn't worry too much about brigands and orcs around the area.

Though, they were still a cause for concern considering the turrets only protected the east side of the base. Louise shrugged the thought, she'll think about the matter another day, it wasn't like the orcs were plotting to raid the base anytime soon.

She stood in the field silently for a second, before shaking her head. _No, Nope, No such thoughts._ She'll have to ask Four-two-four to cover the rest of the perimeter with turrets after it was done with the war factory. She wasn't taking any chances.

" **Prophet, Liliana has finished training."** Four-two-four announced, she nodded and doubled back to the hand of Nod.

She met up with the other three in the elevators and proceeded to U-14, she led the way much to Odette's and Charlotte's relief, they were still spooked by the Nod aesthetic; something that Louise couldn't understand. Louise strode to the pod Liliana occupied. She was still inside, but not for long as wisps of air gushed from the sides.

" **Steer clear, Liliana may experience dizziness or confusion upon exit."** Four-two-four warned. Odette had worry etched across her face.

The hatch opened wider, expelling fog, and a second later a hand shot out and grabbed the side, pulling out the occupant. Liliana looked pretty much the same, except… She jumped out, suddenly full of energy.

"Nice day for a KILL!"

* * *

 **A/N: _Thank you for the encouragement from the previous chapter. I appreciate the reviews. Especially the long one. You know who you are._**

 ** _I hope this chapter hits the spot, I think I'm going rather slowly what with the building and setup. I rather like it. Dont know about you guys._**

 ** _Also Im saddened to hear that Mission stays the same fic is officially dead. Rip in peace._**


End file.
